Long and Short of It
by BlessedTorture
Summary: Maybell Shorter and Sirius Black are too similar and too different for their own good. Sirius Black OC ... Different than most Sirius OC fics ...
1. Loathing

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A/N: I tried to name this chapter Loathing, but it didn't work out for some reason. At any rate, it's fixed now, I found out why Maybell sounded like a Mary-Sue and made it all better … go me! … Hopefully :crosses fingers: Thanks to Lia Tween for pointing it out to me!

When you're done, there's this convient little box at the bottom that asks you to submit a review, that would be great.

Thanks! I'll let you read now …

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i b center u Loathing /i /b /center /u 

I despise Sirius Black with a deep fiery passion that smolders fiercely within the pit of my black, uncaring soul. Not that I'm horrible, oh no. I'm not horrible at all; he's merely twisted and skewed my soul from its original purity and loveliness into a steaming mass of disgusting loathing and hatred towards him and only him. Well, perhaps a few of his lowly mates, rodents really, that he refers to as friends as well. My life was perfect, absolutely perfect until that jerk waltzed into my life and decided to make it a living hell.

He did this simply by making me hate him. Before him I didn't fit in because I was different. I'm different because I stand out. I stand out because in a world full of opinions I just don't care. Mismatching plaid and spots doesn't bother me. I'm totally fine with wearing white after Labor Day, and I frankly could care less who becomes Prime Minister and the same philosophy goes towards who wins the Quidditch world cup.

At least, that was my tried and true philosophy on life until the infamous Sirius Black walked into my life with a torrent of emotions whirling behind him like thick, dark, black, gross, dirty smog.

He doesn't deserve this much emotion from me. Not at all. He deserves nothing but the bugs in the dirt on the bottom of someone's shoe who just stepped in dog poop. And even that is far too good for his dismal, low down, good for nothing self.

I met Black on the train to Hogwarts first year. I had just moved to England from America and wasn't really all that torn up about it. True to my nature, I didn't really care all that much. My parents wanted to move, so we moved. Whatever. I guess I'll start the story from there and move along.

My mom moved us from sunny San Diego to gloomy, rainy London this week. It was actually kind of a fun move. My friends were a little upset to see me leaving them, but I didn't mind. Peter and Michelle will miss me a lot, and I guess I'll miss them, but new adventures await me over the horizon!

A lot of the reason we moved had to do with the fact that I was accepted to Hogwarts and they sent the letter i especially /i for me overseas to America. She has this theory in her head that I'm so incredibly talented that they have to have me at Hogwarts. She disregards the fact that I couldn't perform a spell to save my life, and that my magic only comes out at the most inconvenient of times.

Like this time, I went to a muggle elementary school because my parents thought I needed to know about the muggle world for some weird reason. I was forbidden to tell anyone of my magical ancestry.

Well, this one time, we were at school and all the kinds were playing this awful game called "tag." I, of course, not being raised as a muggle, had no idea what in the world was going on around me.

This boy in my class, Maxwell, came up behind me, sneaky like a snake. He poked me with that infamous poke. I whipped around in a fury, ready to pound him within two inches of his life. Mind you, I was eight at the time.

Well, instead of connecting with his face, my fist richoched off of a wall of a large purple bubble that suddenly surrounded me. Was the end? Of course not, oh no my friend, that was not the end. How could it be?

The purple bubble, with me in it, began to float away. Since I was surrounded by muggles, none of them knew how to react or what to do. I sat down in my little express bubble and watched as my old life in muggle school got farther and farther away, and smaller and smaller.

My parents had a difficult time explaining all these happenings to my old principal, and eventually we had to move away from that county because of all the "witch hunters," out to get me. You'd think those kinds of people would be gone by now, but I guess not.

Anyways, I eventually passed out from lack of oxygen as the bubble got really, really high, and I have no conscious memory of how I was saved. I am told though, by those who know, that my parents were called to school and my father came to get me on a broomstick. How he managed not to pass out is a mystery to me to this day, and he sees no reason to explain this peculiar event to me.

My mother sees this event, and a few others like it, as evidence that I am "The greatest witch of our time!" My father just thinks I'm a freak. I'm not so sure.

Oh well, my mother always was a little crazy. I figure there was this bird that was completely set upon flying a long way, for the same reason exercise freaks run marathons, and figured since there was a witch in America; it was a perfect opportunity for it to fulfill its exercising dreams.

My mom always claimed that I was a little crazy. What did she know? She was old anyway.

At any rate, we both agreed upon the fact that that bird would die within a week from sheer exhaustion. That's why we locked it in a cage with a bunch of food and toys for it to spend its final hours in.

Boy were we wrong, that bird was far from dead when we came back later that day. It was up and eating quite merrily, or so it seemed. We watched closely, examining every inch of the small cage, enthralled with the non-dead and not-dying bird, and slowly it looked me square in the eye. Its beady eye was ever so close to mine, I dared not blink because I was afraid that in the second I blinked, it would peck my eye out with its formidable beak. Slowly, that bird began to push around a little ball with a bell in it. As the bell chirped a bit, the owl looked at us. At this point, I swear to you on my honor, that bird cooed indignantly, as thought it were a human. It was insulted that we would dare provide it with youthful entertainment while confining it to such limited lodging.

My mother and I did the only logical thing we could do at that point. We opened the cage and sent the bird upon its way. I do hope it made it back to Hogwarts alright, little buggard. My mother and I nicknamed him Lazarus, because in our minds he had come back from the dead, miraculously none the less.

That was a wonderful start to my new life. Well, what I'm assuming is a new life. I guess it might not be if Hogwarts turns out to be a joke and doesn't actually exist. Both of my parents are rather eccentric. They insist that Hogwarts does in fact exist, and that they in fact went there as students and met there. They also, however, refuse to deny the existence of dragons and trolls, and constantly assert that Dumbledore is still alive. Anyone who knows anything is all too aware that someone as old as Dumbledore would have to be dead by now. For him to live this long is not only impossible, it is a sin. If he were alive, which I'm sure he is not, he would be adding a rather large contribution to the problem of over-population and blatantly denying the laws of natural selection, and he would also be ignoring the greatest possible years it is acceptable for a creature of the male sex to live. If he is in fact alive, which I highly doubt, it would be better for him to just die and get it over with because he is doing more harm than good.

I told my mother this and she looked at me, clearly stating with her bewildered glare that Dumbledore wasn't going to die anytime soon, and to suggest it was plainly blasphemy and ludicrous. She clarified the meaning I had already read from her obvious facial expressions with an unnecessary and unwieldy statement, "Dumbledore, I'll have you know, is the greatest wizard of our time! He is far greater than any one, no one challenges Dumbledore." She tumbled over her words in her usual fashion of clumsy wordplay.

I must admit that I have no real advantage over my mother in the vocabulary and the evading gift of elegant speaking. I do however possess a sly talent that only makes itself apparent when I am angry. When fury rages in me, words become meaningless and nothing but my intended words filled with intended vulgar vocabulary make themselves known through non verbal communication.

Oh, I guess I forgot to mention. My name is Maybell Shorter. Should I describe the way I look? Quite possibly it will affect your image of me, and is that what I want? Do I want you to be influenced by the physical aspect of me, or shall I twist and turn your views of me with my meaningless words, which when stringed together in a certain manner produce a startling production of metaphoric meaning. I shall spin the truth any way I like, flex my rhetorical muscles I'll make your heads spin, filling them up with dizzy thoughts because of my dazzling intellect. Or perhaps I'll baffle you with my bullshit. I guess it all depends upon your perception and how you wish to view life.

I'm rather short, family trait I'm sad to say. That's how we got stuck with the name Shorter. We are in fact, shorter than everyone else. But what we lack in mere vertical altitude, we make up for with pure Irish spunk. My eyes are bright green, and my hair is vibrant red. It's usually hidden behind a rather large blue hat I'm unusually fond of. My hair is unruly and sticks out of all corners of my hat and resembles a torrid firestorm. I like to think of my hat as a spat of water to put the fire out, it's blue like the ocean anyway.

In the end, it was all words anyway. I assure you, on my honor, that I did nothing to dissuade you from the actual viewing of me and me, and that if you take those words literally you will get a pretty good view of how I look.

All these things I've been discussing have been examples of my warped view on reality; my catawampus view on a serpentine world. That certainly was not the point of this exercise, but unfortunately I seemed to have uncharacteristically misplaced my purpose among all these tangents.

When I find it, I'll be sure to write it down so we'll both stop being confused, confounded by my cleverness, and ultimately baffled by my bullshit.


	2. Adoration

_**Adoration**_

I adore Maybell Shorter … a lot. I mean, a lot a lot. She's everything a girl should be. She's smart, really nice, smart, and …I can't think of the word, so I'll just use a nice, regular description everyone can understand: she's incredibly sexy. If it were Maybell talking instead of me, she would use some hoity-toity big word that no one but she, and her friends Copper and Johnathan, understands. But that's ok; I still enjoy talking to her, or exchanging very loud words with her. Every once in a while I get this … vague feeling though, a feeling that she doesn't really like me that much, but I must be wrong. I have to be completely and totally wrong. Who would not, could not love Sirius Black, who could possibly not adore him as much as he adores them? What female could resist the charms of Sirius Black? Who could not like Black back?

I can think of a few people actually, but none of them happen to be girls my age. So they don't count for anything. The members of my family are the only people I know who actually totally hate me. They hate me because I'm different. They hate me because I care. The difference between me and them is just that, the fact that I care about more than just myself, and I care about more than having a family name that indicates I have pure, or in my mind stained, blood. In my small world, and in my family, caring is a sin, an unforgivable sin.

This is part of the reason Maybell Shorter fascinates me and makes me really want to get to know her better. Her family does not seem like it is a part of her life at all, though I'm sure they are to an extent, and they really don't seem to bother her all that much, nor she them. She's different from everyone I know. Every person I am friends with has a family that is a huge part of their life, good or bad. James' family and the people I consider to be my real family and home, are his and mine's lives, as well as Peter and Remus. I have no idea what we would do without them. Peter's family is power hungry, much like my biological ones I suppose, and Remus' family loves him but doesn't know what to do with him and his werewolf-ness. They actually make Remus a little bitter because all he wants is for his family to like him for him, is that really asking for too much? At least his family loves him though, and he knows that they do, even though they hate the fact that he's a werewolf. See, all of my best friend's family's play huge roles in their lives, and mine does as well. Three out of the four Marauders' families are a bad or detrimental influence on us and make me and my mates bitter and untrusting. Only James' family is wonderful and really, in my opinion, worth being around. We all turn to James' family as a surrogate one for us. Aha! A big word, Maybell would be very proud.

But Maybell, she and her family don't seem to know each other at all, and they don't have any drive to either. They don't seem to care, it's really quite weird. From what I hear, they are just like her, detached. Detached from each other and from the world. I really wonder what that feels like, to just not care about things. It's got to be a wonderful feeling.

Maybell doesn't seem to realize what great things she has going for her. She's so wrapped up in being detached that she doesn't care about anything anymore. Wow, I'm twisting things up like she does. Damn, I even confuse myself when I think of her. Maybell though, I almost think she's blinded by not caring. She's so quick to point out something other people are doing that's odd, but she never looks at herself. Then again, I guess I don't either. Maybe she does care though, and she doesn't like to show it. Maybe deep down, she really knows who she is and just acts detached so … so … I don't know, for something. She's so bloody … CONFUSING!

It's hard to talk to her, or about her, because of this confusing-ness she has going for her. She has this thing where she makes the entire world look like it's in a knot that can't be undone. She takes everything and picks it apart and sees things that no one else would see and criticizes it and comments on every inch of it. I love that about her and I hate it at the same time. I'm pretty smart. I'm not a big talker like her, but I do know some things. I get by in school without doing much homework, I'm still a boy and I don't care much about talking big, but I'm smart. But when I get around her, I become a dumb eight year old again, unsure of myself and unsure of what all the big people are talking about. I love that feeling though, the feeling that I am friends with someone so much higher than me.

I still don't understand her though. She is i so confusing. /i She constantly uses big words like "bigoted brute," and "ignorant ignoramus," when she's talking to me. I have no idea what these things mean. I used to pretend I did, but that didn't seem to work, she could always see though me. After I figured out pretending didn't work, I started to ask her what she meant, but she started bringing dictionary's with her to throw at my head whenever I asked. After a few bruises and slight concussions and trips to Madame Pomfrey, I decided to quit asking and just stop listening when she starts talking large.

Teachers also use big words I don't understand, but I try to use them in real life. Words like "procrastinator." Every teacher I have ever come across has called me a "procrastinator." I'm not sure what it means, but I'm assuming it has something to do with girls. They seem to tell me this in such an endearing way, another word I picked up from Maybell, (endearing) that I'm sure it has to do with something I'm good at. And I'm good at girls. Just ask Maybell. She's totally jealous of me. When she calls me a "bigoted brute," now, I reply, "Well, at lease I'm a procrastinator too! It's more than you can say!" I haven't yet been able to figure out the look on her face after I say that, I assume it's love, devotion, adoring-ness, anything good I guess.

Maybell and I met on the train to Hogwarts. It was a wonderful first meeting, one that can only be topped by the way I met James, well, it can almost be topped by the way I met James. Maybell is a lot hotter than James, and even though he's my mate, Maybell's still incredibly sexy.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Back to First year, Two Weeks before the first Term.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Finally. There are only two more weeks until I begin my first term at Hogwarts. Everyone is asking me whether or not I'm nervous to be leaving my family for the first time, ever, except of course grammar school. Honestly, I'm just relived to get away from them. I hate my family. No. I loathe my family, vocabulary word of the week there. They are completely horrible. My younger brother, Regulus, is a complete git. He wouldn't know how to fly a broomstick if a broomstick hit him over the head with an instruction booklet. Ok, that was a bad analogy. But you get the idea, he's i really /i stupid.

My mother, god help us, is a pureblood fanatic. So is my father. She thinks we are better than the world because we have inbred blood. That's what it basically is at this point. A bunch of our family members are having children with other family members and for some reason that makes us special. I'm surprised that none of my cousins have three heads. Other places where this kind of sick behavior happens people who don't inbreed look down on the people who do. Look at that place in America … Georgia or something. People there are called hicks and hillbillies and made fun of constantly for doing the same thing we're doing.

But not us, no, we look upon ourselves as royalty. Better than everyone else because our blood is tainted by inter-family-breeding. It's stupid. I bet regular, modern, smart wizards and witches make fun of us the way modern Americans make fun of hicks.

Because I think this, and many other not-so-nice things about my family, my family hates me as much as I hate them. They are more than happy to send me to Hogwarts. They assume I'll end up in Slytherin like everyone else and "learn my place." They're going to be disappointed. So very disappointed. I have plans at Hogwarts, and those plans have nothing to do with my family. I will not end up like them. That is not who I am, I refuse to be like that. I may have there blood in me, but I am not them. I am not.

I will not end up in Slytherin. I will do everything in my power to avoid that. Everything. I do not care what it takes. Maybe when I get to Hogwarts I'll pretend I'm not a Black, then no one will assume that I have to be in Slytherin. Then no one will look at me like I'm royalty, and no one will look at me like I'm a jerk just because I'm a pureblood. That way, I can prove myself, I can show my family that I am my own person, I can show the world that I am more than my family name. I will not be told who I am. I will not.

That would never work sadly, pretending not to be a Black, but it is a nice thought. Even with the name Black though, I will not be put into Slytherin. I can't be. That would make me just like all of them. I think I'll try to get into Gryffindor. That's the worst house, in my family's eyes, and if I were to be put into that house they might see me for who I am and stop hating me so much. Or maybe it will just make them hate me more.

I don't care what they think of me any more though. It's not my problem. I'm old enough to take care of myself. I'm 11 years old already. I'm smart too, and magically talented, talented enough to get into Hogwarts. But even that isn't enough to make them like me. They probably never will. So I won't like them either, I'll get into Gryffindor and show them exactly what I'm made of! They'll be sorry they hated me! All of the adults in my life who aren't members of my family, and there aren't many of them, tell me that I see too much for my age. I know too much about my family, too much about ways of bad people. Sometimes I think they are right, and they tell me it's because I see all this that I'm so rebellious. Rebellious is such a fun word. I don't know why, maybe it's just fun to say. I really don't know why I'm so rebellious. Maybe it does have to do with my family, maybe it doesn't. At this point, it doesn't really matter because that's who I am. Though I guess it could change. I am only 11.

I'm really don't like my family. I know that when I talk about them I sound stupid. I really do care about them, and I want them to care about me. That's a lot of my problem right there, caring too much. Sometimes I think it would be better just to not care at all. To go through life detached, but then I realize how boring that would be. It would be stupid to go through life without any worries, stupid stupid stupid. I've learned that if you don't care about stuff, it won't bother you. But you can't just not care about things. It doesn't work like that.

I talked with a teacher of mine about this a while ago this year. She told me that it was too deep for a kid my age; I don't know what she meant. I'm guessing she thinks the same way my family does and assumes that I'm stupid and brainless because I don't follow their orders and I don't think like they do. Well, I don't not think like they do. That's the problem with my family. They don't think about anything, they follow everything the people before them did. They always do what their parents did, who did what their parents did and on and on it goes in a weird circle of obedience. None of us even know who or what we are obeying anymore. We just obey.

Maybe I do see too much, maybe I do know too much. I'm still stupid. My family like to tell me I am, and I know they are right. But I'm going to Hogwarts know, there I'll be smart and better than any of them. I won't be like them when I grow up, I'll stay myself and I'm stubborn enough to do it. I know, many people have told me so.

I just wish they liked me.


	3. The Golden Hedgehog

_**The Golden Hedgehog **_

My mother and I arrived at Diagon Alley around three in the afternoon. The comedy and absurdness of the place is endless. All these witches and wizards run around for no apparent reason and all of them are in a stunning rush to get somewhere fabulous, a place unbeknownst to the rest of us, and all of them are _extremely _important. That is, they seem to think as much. They are inexcusably pushy and absolutely positive that they deserve to be in line before you and thus, we ruffians should move to the back. My mother and I were caught up in the quick paced mob and were absolutely fascinated at how quickly magical peoples in wizarding England could move. In Diagon Alley, and I'm assuming all of wizarding England (rather unjustly I'm sure), witches and wizards are very anxious to obtain their magical necessities in a timely manner. Thus, it is assumed, one can be in and out of an English Wizarding Mall, such as Diagon Alley, within an hour. My mother and I dispelled this notion, surely but quietly.

We wandered aimlessly through the alluring shops, buying this here, and that there until we arrived at Ollivander's Wand Shoppe. The peeling gold letters on the sign above the door claimed that the owners of the particular bodega were "Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C." If one was going solely by the information presented on this sign, this advocation, the facts would seem rather implausible. However the state of the store made this proclamation a tad more persuasive. The outside of this Wand Abode was absolutely atrocious and ancient. Cracks ran all along every edge visible, and invisible ones probably plagued the foundation of the store. The state of the windows was deplorable, the door was hanging by one hinge, and it was kept up by some form of what had to be powerful magic. My mother and I approached the window cautiously; I was sincerely afraid that some form of evil beast would leap from it in a sudden impetuous lightning storm of claws and teeth ready to steal my mother and mine feeble mortal lives with immense ferocity. We would have to defend ourselves to the death beautifully.

I was disappointed when this did not happen. All I saw when I peered into the window was a solitary wand lying on a purple pillow. I was a little shocked. Beyond beasts, I did expect a lot of items in this store, like a thrift shop, but there was nothing there but that wand and purple pillow.

I shrugged my shoulders and continued to gaze down at the wand which lay before me. I decided to do the unthinkable; think. I examined every angle, attempting to figure out if perhaps there was some hidden meaning in the positioning of the wand, perhaps the color of the pillow I lay upon. The most I could dredge from the depths of my mind is that the color purple indicates magical power, amplified magical power. Perhaps the purple is a way to tell people who are looking into the window that the wands here amplify a magician's power. That seemed ignorant to me, however. Why would this Ollivander's need to brag about how wonderful their wands are through the means of color identification when they are the only wand shop in London, when they are the only shop from which potential wand buyers can go to when in need of a wand in their native country? What Englishman would flee England to France, the closest neighboring country with a wand shop, to buy a wand? My mother walked into the store at this point, thankfully interrupting my disjointed and twisted thought process that was getting totally out of control. I assumed I was to follow her, as per the rulebook I read about mother's and daughter's roles in life states. Apparently, daughters are supposed to do what their mothers do, even when their mothers are complete nut jobs and crazy people.

Thus, I followed my mother into the absolutely appalling wand shop. Once inside, I was nearly knocked over by the decaying and musty smell which was emitted from the store itself. It was shocking and absolutely frightening. On top of that, it looked like a library, dusty shelves and all and that no one had cleaned the place in years. Suddenly, I felt my arm start to twitch beyond my control. It was flailing madly and when I looked over at my mother, hers was as well, only she looked composed as though it didn't bother her. "Oh my god! Mom! What's happening?"

My mother looked over at me, non-pulsed, "Oh, don't worry about it dear, that's just Wizards Twitch."

"Wizards Twitch?" My arm smacked my side loudly, "What's in God's name is Wizards twitch"

At this point, Mr. Ollivander turned around to face us. He spoke in too soft of a voice, and his eyes were too focused to be normal, "Wizards Twitch is similar to the muggle form of sneezing. When there is dust that is extremely old, wizards start to twitch the same way muggles would sneeze. Don't worry about it; it will go away in a minute." I stared at the man who was talking, oblivious to my arm at this point.

It was not that he was frightening in anyway, it was more than that. His silvery eyes seemed to look past outer surfaces and see deep into the core. They did not just see that of human existence, they saw through all things and into the core, through all things, they were surreal. He could see through a solid wall to what was behind it, it appeared. He just knew things. He just saw. His fingers were just a bit to long to be completely normal. Instead of being fingers, they were long whimsical branches of a weeping willow, lying peacefully in whatever position they happened to be in. the rest of his limbs and his torso had the same slightly skewed appearance. They weren't quite abnormal, but still, there was just enough about them that made it impossible for his features to appear completely in tune with the norm. Even his face had a strange shape, it was all to long, to willowy, and it was too stretched. His skin merely spanned his face, covering the bone. His skin tone, or the lack of skin tone was just as abnormal as the rest of him and played a large part in his creepy appearance and demeanor. He was pure white, as though he were scared to death or in fact dead and a ghost lingering on this earth, impassive to the affairs of humans.

The room we stood in was a labyrinth of wands. The shelves were in disarray and held an infinite number of wands, all the boxes in various states of decay. Behind where we stood and in the corner near the window where the sole wand lay stood a few chairs. There was a red, green, yellow and blue one. The four colors of the four elements, interesting. The symbolism of the wand in the window wasn't perhaps just my over active mind.

My mother took her steps towards him carefully and meticulously. "Regina Kelly." Mr. Ollivander spoke exactly the way his appearance betrayed him too, "You look exactly as I thought you would after all of these years. Magnolia, ten inches, unicorn tail hair, correct? Perfect for charms, especially ones for innocence and protection. And now you bring me another young one. It appears you and Mr. Shorter got along better than I had predicted, and you have procreated a marvelous young daughter with stunning green eyes. I believe I have the perfect wand for you. Oak, 11 inches and it contains centaur hair."

He reached up into the shelves of disarray and grabbed a small black box and handed it to me with an unnecessary flourish. I raised my eyebrow incredulously; not wanting to open this box which he was so certain contained my wand.

But I did. I waved the wand he had handed me and with a sudden bang the chair behind me and to my right burst into flames and within a few seconds was nothing more than a smoldering pile of ask. My mother and I stood in shock. I'm sure she was thinking the same thing I was, _Is he going to make us pay for that? It wasn't my fault, _he _handed me the bloody wand. _

Fortunately, that was not the next sentence that spilled out of his mouth. Instead he said "Well. That's a first, and that's saying a lot. Well, well, well, we'll have to try a different wand then!" with that, he flew around and went rummaging through the shelves for another wand. This time, he handed me a white box with yellowed edges, "Magnolia, like your mother, 9 inches with a phoenix feather. You seem like you have some fire that is if one were to judge from the state of my former, and once magnificent and ruby chair." I once again raised an incredulous eyebrow and took the wand and tattered box from his outstretched hand.

I waved it through the air, and once again disaster stuck. Only this time, instead of an inanimate object like a chair for example, it was Mr. Ollivander's clothing itself which caught fire and went up into flame on his left arm.

I panicked. I utterly panicked. In the spirit of senselessness that accompanies panicking, I attempted to put out the fire that was creeping up his arm with my spit. I projected my saliva onto the poor man until he drew his wand, spirited me away with a stroke and then with another majestic stroke released himself from the fire which was consuming his left arm with lightening speed.

I attempted to apologize profusely for my unintended disgusting reaction to having set him on fire, but he wouldn't hear of it. "Many people have walked through those doors." he gestured towards the deteriorating doors, "Many have made mistakes. I have never forgotten one, and I never will. You, just happen to be one full of firsts and an interesting customer to try to fit. Do not ever be sorry because of your differences from the rest of the so-called world full of so-called normality." I thought he spoke rather like the American Jedi Yoda. 'Good are you. Bad are you not. Be not sorry, firsts you give.'

Mr. Ollivander went back into the far reaches of his humble store to fetch me another presumably cataclysmic wand and I was so consumed with dreadful worry about what I was going to destroy next that I didn't realize that a small family of four had walked in behind us and stood solemnly in the door way. If I had noticed, I would have been shocked by the cold demeanor of all of the family save one. And I would have been intrigued by his devil may care attitude. But, I did not see them, so I was none of the afore mentioned adjectives. I was instead trembling with dread about the next wand I was about to be presented with.

"Try this one. I have a good feeling about this one." He seemed enlivened with the challenge of matching me with a wand; the opposite of what I would have expected considered what I was putting him through. "Thirteen inch mahogany, once again Unicorn hair. Flick this one carefully, young lady. There is potential for more damage with this wand than the others I have given you."

I tried to take his words to heart as I swung the heavy wand through the stagnant air with my eyes squeezed shut.

At first, I thought nothing had happened. Then "AHHH!" "SQUEAK, SQUEAK," "AHHHH," resounded through the store from behind me. My eyes flew open and I was confronted by this odd family. The youngest was screaming in agony as a small creature atop his head was attempting to escape. The boy was spinning around with his hands flying through his hair endeavoring to free himself from the foreign beast that was clawing its way into his scalp.

The older boy stood laughing next to his brother. He was holding his gut tightly to keep himself standing straight; the sight of him almost sent me into hysterics myself.

My mother shot out from beside me and tried to get the animal off of the younger boys head. All she managed to do however was knock him over and send herself vaulting over him and landing unceremoniously on top of the poor, already distraught boy. 

The beast went skidding in little ringlets across the floor and came to a halt in front of Mr. Ollivander. I finally got a good look at the creature just before Mr. Ollivander raised his wand in anticipation of a spell. The creature was a hedgehog! and a strange one at that. The quills on its back looked more like splinters and the tips of them were brilliant and golden. The rest of its quivering body was chestnut colored and looked like wood. I felt so bad for it! 

"REPARASJON!" Mr. Ollivander bellowed and a jettison of golden sparks flew from his wand at the little hedgehog and missed him by a hair. The little creature went tumbling over himself around the store, trying to find a place to hide, yet finding none. Mr. Ollivander was on his tail the entire time.

I ran after Mr. Ollivander and tried to intercede on behalf of the hedgehog; it didn't deserve to be … charmed or spelled upon or anything, it hadn't done a thing to anyone! I bounded quickly around the store, trying to grab the hedgehog before Mr. Ollivander cursed it to oblivion.

"REPARASJON!" Sounded again through the store and I covered my eyes as I saw the stream of golden sparks strike the little critter right between the eyes. I opened one eye halfway to see if anything happened. Veins of gold began to spread from the spot where the spell hit him and bled all over his trembling body and snaked up into his quills. Anon, his entire being was golden.

I rushed forward and scooped the golden hedgehog up into my arms. I started to smooth his quills and tried to get him to calm down. Mr. Ollivander walked up to me. He started to speak above the older boy who was still laughing, "You owe me a new sign,"

"What do you mean?"

"You turned my sign into a hedgehog. And now that's you're hedgehog. I don't want it. When we are done, I want it out of my store so it doesn't attack any more of my customers." He seemed rather angry with me. And here I was thinking that he liked me because I was different. I cuddled the hedgehog up to my cheek and looked back at the boy standing behind me. He was trying to speak, but failing miserably. After a minute of two, he managed to get to a point where he could be coherently understood; we all waited patiently for him.

"Technically …" He sucked in air, "The hedgehog didn't attack Regulus, it feel on his head." More laughter, "It's not the hedgehog's fault, it's Regulus'" Breathe, "for being in the wrong place, at the wrong time."

SMACK! The boy's mother walloped him upside the head and he shut up immediately. I gazed at her for a bit.

The older woman I assumed was the mother had a very frightening look about her. She wore a black cap and it appeared that she had no hair under it because she had cancer and was receiving way too much chemotherapy. Her skin was yellow as though she had jaundice. She looked like she could stop a belligerent yeti in its evil tracks. Her hands clawed at her side, ready to reach out and remove any foe's eyes for one wrong and unintentional movement in one, quick, silent and evil strike.

The older man stood tall above his apparent wife. He seemed to be paranoid, kept looking over his shoulder for an unseen assailant. He had long, wavy black hair and steel grey eyes that did not even have a semblance of intelligence behind there dull color. The youngest was more interesting than the two parents. He was a little big for his size and appeared rather soft. His eyes were still watering from my hedgehog attacking him; it was enough to inspire a bit of pity from me.

The oldest boy was the most interesting. He had storm grey eyes similar to his father, but they were different. There was something behind them, something intelligent. There was also … laughter lurking behind his stern features. He was laughing inwardly still, I assumed about the hedgehog incident and his darling brother. He had long, wavy black hair like his father.

I looked back into his eyes. They were really laughing. I was enthralled, I walked closer, and I was about to ask him what he was laughing at when Mr. Ollivander caught my attention. "Ahem, I do believe young Regulus is fine, which means we have more work to do my dear. Try this. Centaur hair, very hard to obtain, Oak again, 14 inches. Rather powerful. Be careful when you swirl this one, more careful than the last one."  
I wasn't quite sure how I could swing a wand carefully; it seemed like one easy motion. I put the hedgehog onto my left shoulder and with my right hand took the wand which was being handed to me and swung it down through the air, probably a little harder than I should have. 

The wand took matters into its own hands and flew from between my fingers during mid-swing into the nearest wand shelve, leaving my arm hanging in the air. Tons of dust flew off of the shelf and covered Mr. Ollivander, my mother, and I. I had my arm out in the air still and I peered at Mr. Ollivander, hoping to goodness he didn't hate me forever because I had covered his entire store in dust, making it look more ancient, if that was possible, as it had before. Just as we thought that was the worst that could happen, the book shelf my wand had struck began to creak and slowly but surely tilt from one side to the other.

Mr. Ollivander went into slow motion trying to halt the inevitable disaster that was befalling his store. As he rushed towards the falling, crushing wand shelf, it struck the shelf next to it with a sickening crunch. The one next to it fell sideways and a domino effect ensued. In a cloud of dust and crashing booming noise, it was obvious all of the shelves had fallen to their demise, and that I was about to come to my own. The place looked like a war zone, or like a tornado had blown through. Pieces of boxes were in the air floating down softly as if on a breeze. Wands littered the floor in a mosaic of different colored wood, some still half in the box. The shelves themselves were completely ruined beyond repair. Their ruins lay strewn across the store, a piece even covered my foot. Everyone who was standing in the store was covered in six layers of dust; we all looked like statues.

I closed my eyes, fearful of Mr. Ollivander's inevitably furious and raging reaction. I was thinking _He handed me that bloody wand, that freaking 'powerful,' wand. It wasn't my fault. Nope. I swung delicate. Not my fault. Uh-uh. _but, I was still scared out of my mind about what he was going to do to me. I'm sure he didn't look at the situation the same way I did, and it was quite possible he would kick me out of his store for destroying it, and then where would I be! Going to Hogwarts without a wand! I opened my eyes and held up my left hand to shield myself from the onslaught of dust. 

With a loud CRACK and a shot of pain in my hand, I instantly felt a surge of energy fly up and down my extended arm and felt a flash of air by my ear. I quickly pulled it down, trying to avoid what ever was happening to me and to my surprise a streak of vibrant gold sparks flew through the air in a bright patter of a dragon.

I felt heat emitting from behind me and I turned around just in time to see a brilliant red dragon of sparks hanging in the air behind me. I looked up and locked eyes with the boy who was holding the wand that had made the sparks. He stared down at me, the confusion that was surely on my own face mirrored on his features. His right hand clutching the wand that had flown into his hand the same way mine had into my own hand. I continued to look in his eyes until Mr. Ollivander spoke from behind.

"Kindred spirits. Fascinating. You, Miss. Maybell Shorter have been chosen for an elder wood, twelve inch wand, with unicorn hair and a phoenix feather. One of two wands I have used two creatures in. Its match is sitting in Sirius Black's hand. You're two destiny's are somehow linked. The last time I saw this happen was with a certain Albus Dumbledore and a Minerva McGonagall."

My mother leaned forward, keen to learn anything she could about Dumbledore, "What happened," 

"Both of them walked in, much like the two young people we have here, and before I could say anything two wands, two matching wands, flew out from behind me and into their hands. They both have wands from the same Unicorn, Minerva's is Oak, ten inches and Albus' is Elder, eleven inches. This reminds me.

"Elder is a wood that is sacred to the wee-folk, the fairy's. They hide in its branches during winter and fall to escape the cold and frolic in its leaves during the spring and summer. It's a perfect wand for mischief. I therefore wish the two of you good luck in avoiding detention, and all forms of punishment during your days at Hogwarts." 

Before I could react to this new twist however, a bark like laugh sounded from behind me. I turned and found myself face to face with the boy with laughing eyes, Sirius Black. I smiled kindly while examining his face critically. Who was this guy I was supposedly a kindred spirit with? He gave me a smile I recognized, and I knew he was trying to figure out the same thing I was. This was not something I wanted to have happen to me. I didn't need a kindred spirit.

I heard Mr. Ollivander speak behind me, "Jeg vil ha min forretning sammen igjen." I turned around just in time to watch as the store was magically put back together. It was beautiful.

Sirius Black spoke first. "If you could put your store back together that easily, why did you bother trying to save it in the first place?" I smiled, he thought like me, and it was true, why in the world would he try to save his store if he could just renovate it by talking magic.

"Automatic reaction." Mr. Ollivander smiled at me, "The place needed renovating anyway." He was right. The difference in the store was absolutely amazing. It was spotless, absolutely pristine. The smell had left the store completely, and it now smelt spectacular.

Mr. Ollivander sniffed the air, and looked around. "Still, there's something missing. Something …" He tapped his long fingers together, "something is off …" a smile graced his face and he said, "Ah, yes … Støv er stort."

A layer of dust descended upon from midair. I felt my arm begin to tense up and twitch, the same way it had when I walked into the store, and I started to laugh. Soon, everyone in the store was twitching and chortling except for Mr. Ollivander. He stood there stoically, so my mother and I took a moment to thank him for his help, and apologize again for all the trouble. He waved us off again.

I still felt horrible for destroying all of it however. He may have been able to fix everything I had done with a flick of his wand, but that didn't mean much in the way of sentiments. No one wants to watch a store they've had for, goodness at least a thousand years, more than two thousand years, go up in flames, or down into dust. Even if it's repairable.

My mother and I bade him farewell, content with the notion that we would never have to visit that store again and walked away in absolute silence. We walked by the family and I paused by Sirius Black, and winked. No sense in having him hate me. I tried to smile consolingly towards to the boy the hedgehog and scared, but he slunk away from the creature I held in my hands. My mother and I remained in silence all the way out of the store. Neither one of us trusted ourselves to say anything.

That is until my mother started laughing. "Trust it to you. You never can do things the easy way, can you? My goodness. Just when I start thinking you're normal, that you've found a place you'll fit in, you go off and prove me wrong." She laughed good-naturedly to show me she didn't hate me for all that I had done.

She may have been trying to make me feel better, but I wasn't laughing. I wasn't pleased. I knew I wouldn't be able to get Sirius Black out of my head, but for some reason I wanted him to be gone. It wasn't pleasant having him running amuck through my mind, and having a match to my wand. Who was he anyway? But the more my mother laughed, the more I saw the hilarity of the situation. I thought of the boy with laughing eyes in the Shoppe and I began to chortle silently to myself. I suppose it was a little comical. Before I knew it I was chuckling softly and within a minute I was outright laughing with my mother.

"Come on. Let's go to the Leaky Cauldron for dinner." My mother squeaked between fits of laughter. I nodded my head in feeble agreement and we set off jerkily towards the Leaky Cauldron, still stifling boughts of laughter.

Once we arrived at the famed establishment, we both sat down at a very small table in the corner of the pub. We were still stifling laughter every couple of moments, which earned us some very confused looks from the tables around us. The hedge hog we had no acquired was still squeaking, indignant that he had been turned completely golden because of the strange Mr. Ollivander's spell; he was also beginning to glow supernaturally.

"I think we should name him Ollivander." I spoke suddenly and clearly, stopping any lingering laughter. "Ollie for short. That way I can always remember why I don't like shopping."

"Oh. I really hope he doesn't turn back into a sign. He's such a nice hedgehog." My mother sighed.

"Me too. I hope he stays hedge-hoggy for a long time, that way I can take him with me to Hogwarts when I leave." I tried to put Ollivander to smooth his quills, but he would have none of it. He kept trying to scamper off in another direction away from my imploring hand. "He's so cute! Why do you think he keeps running though?" I looked at my mother, hoping she would have an answer as to why he was so set upon leaving us so soon. 

"Well, seeing as how he's been a sign above a store for over two thousand years, I think perhaps he wishes to return to where he's been stationed for so long." I laughed. Sometimes my mother had just as weird a sense of humor as I. She was probably right as well.

"But that's the way life goes. You grow up as a tree, have someone hack you down mercilessly, and probably painfully, back then they didn't have any sharp tools with which to help a tree to its demise, then you are cut up into a sign. Then, the people have the nerve to paint you gold with a statement that within a hundred years no one believes, and finally, when you are just getting used to your station in life, some crazy girl comes and turns you into a golden hedgehog. It's horrible."

My mother laughed. "It's true, but you are not the one who turned him golden. He only had gold quills when you were done with him. Mr. Ollivander actually is the one who turned him completely golden."

I giggled a bit, she was right again. I looked over at the now christened Ollie who was trying to nibble a coaster that we weren't using, "I wonder why he's glowing. Do you think that means he's turning back into a sign?"

"When he starts to splinter, or looks like his gold color is peeling, or when he starts to flatten out, then you should worry." My mother peered over her glasses rims at me. "Are you all right with what happened in the wand shop? You seem kind of dazed; I'll admit I don't know anymore than you. But if you want to talk about it, I'm a really good listener."

That was just like my mother. To go from a completely hilarious subject to a serious one that required more thought. I didn't want to talk about it at this point; I was still in too much shock. I decided to avoid the problem all together and go back to the funny part of what had happened, "The one thing that worries me right now is if the boy who Ollie attacked attends Hogwarts."

My mother laughed a little, catching my drift of not wanting to discuss Sirius, "I suppose he would be rather angry with you for scarring him. And I suppose he would be really mad since his family didn't seem to care one wink about it."

"I'm not worried about him being mad. I'm worried about Ollie if he sees that boy again!" At this Ollie began to nibble on the edge of a coaster on the table, and slowly his glow began to fade bit by bit.


	4. The Spreading Gold

_**The Spreading Gold at Platform 9 and 3/4**_

"You're telling me that you want me to run through a wall. Are you sure that you're feeling ok?" I eyed my mother murderously because I was not pleased that she wanted me to race headlong through a wall. A solid wall. My mother was absolutely one crazy lark. She refused to listen to me and my constant, unrelenting protests. No matter how many times I insisted that there was no platform nine and three quarters to be found, there was only a nine and a ten, she insisted just as strongly that there was. Apparently all I needed to do to get to platform nine and three quarters was to mosey on a bloody freaking wall. It was absolute absurdity!

"Actually, darling, I prefer to lean through the wall myself, but if you're really that frightened you can run though. It's rather cute that you're frightened love. Don't worry, I won't tell a soul." She spoke casually, as though her words meant nothing, however her wicked smile said all I needed to know. I continued to glower at the world in general, aware that I had been properly chastised by my _darling _mother for my foul mood.

Ollie snorted in his cage, and for his sake I assumed he wasn't pleased with my mother. We had bought a cage for him the day after the wand shop incident. As soon as we had gotten home with the cage and put poor disgruntled Ollie into it, he raced to the corner and curled up into a pathetic, shaking hedgehog ball with his little quills scraping the bars of the cage. The cage became as gold as him, and at once began to glow as he did. A golden cage is a bit unusual, and considered quite valuable. I immediately suggested we sell it to some bum on the street, but my mother firmly turned me down. I could now see why, it was because after a couple days Ollie seemed to have grown accustomed to his new dwellings.

One weird thing about the entire affair was that every once in a while, actually about once a day, Ollie would begin to glow like he had in the Leaky Cauldron. When he glowed, so did his entire cage. I noticed that he had begun to eat the sawdust we had put down for him in the bottom of the cage, and that when he ate it the glow went away. He wouldn't eat anything else, only the saw dust. Sometimes he stared longingly at the wooden table across from where his cage sat, but beyond that he was a normal rodent. We quickly ran out of sawdust for the bottom of the cage because he ate all of it, so we had to put down newspaper. Since the newspaper has been put down, Ollie, and his entire cage have been glowing. I plan on obtaining some sawdust, or a wooden coaster, to amend the situation.

I smiled down at the little critter, pleased that he was on my side. I looked up at my mother "Well, are you going first or am I?"

My mother responded with a smirk "Just walk through; run through, lean through; just go through, I honestly really do not care how you manage it. And don't be scared. If you're scared you won't make it; you'll just embarrass yourself."

A girl with rust colored hair snorted from behind my mother. Apparently, there was a line waiting to get through the wall. Time to get it over with. I closed my eyes and ran blindly through the wall, awaiting the inevitable impact that would send Ollie and me flying. But it never came. I opened my eyes and slowed my cart to a stop and looked around. There was a large train emitting a cloud of smoke and hundreds of children and parents milled around aimlessly, saying their final goodbyes before the children were whisked off to school. I spotted the boy from the wand shop, what was his name …. oh yes Sirius Black talking to a boy with messy black hair and hazel eyes. It was marvelous, I had never felt so at home before in my life.

My mother appeared behind me with her face turned upward into a glorious smile. A lot of people say I have her smile, and as I felt the same radiance spill from my features, I suppose I would have to agree. She eyed me with a little twinkle, then leaned down to Ollie and thanked him for getting me safely through the wall. I laughed melodiously, happy with what was happening in my world.

Abruptly, I was thrown from my state of complacency when the rust haired girl from behind me came plowing through the wall. I turned just in time to see her face contorted into a grotesque mask of fear, eyes squeezed shut behind her cart which was barreling out of control. I tried to move out of the way, but it was in vain. She ran right into me and bowled me over with more force than I had anticipated. Ollie flew out of my hands into the air, and I felt a sharp pain in my side from where the girls cart had struck me. I rolled on the ground in agony, but before I could completely evaluate the damage, the girl landed on top of me in a heap. We both struggled to get away from the other one, but ended up more tangled and unable to move. A boy from beside us was now tumbling down with us because Ollie had hit him in the head after I threw the poor critter in the air. The boy landed right next to us and was soon caught up in the tumble with Ollie scrambling in the center of the calamity.

We fought each other gallantly, each one of us pushing the other ones in an attempt to get out. I heard a few people laughing from beside me, and that only made me want to get away from this mess faster. I pushed, pulled, and bit, but NO ONE WAS MOVING!

I heard a muddle curse from my left, "FORSVINN!" in a heavy Irish accent. At least I think it was a curse. The tone of voice really implied cursing. To my right, the boy was scrambling madly, and I pushed at him, trying to get him away from me. My legs were tangled in the girls and what I assumed were the boys. The legs of some unknown person, or persons, floated in the air, with no body attached, no body that could be seen. I pulled harder to get away. I was desperate for air! Behind, I could hear my mother laughing hysterically, again. Darn her! Darn them all! Instead of laughing she should be bloody helping! There was a crowd gathering now to view the spectacle we were making of ourselves. I threw a punch in the general area of the boy, hoping to knock him out so he would get off me. 

"Whooo!" Above, a cursed owl was calling loudly.

"GUFO! GO GIT NICKLE!" The girl shouted beside me. I stopped for a moment _Nickel? _but then I felt someone pull towards me on the side, and I pushed them away with all my might.

Darn it! Why were they so big! Why was I so big? I tried and tried to get out of the mass of people, I couldn't tell if it was just the three of us at this point, but I just couldn't do it. From the corner of my eye, I saw a tall, slender boy of about 15 with vibrant red hair come over to us and start trying to pull the girl out of the twisting mass of flesh we had become. That must have been Nickel. I prayed he would succeed. That's when Ollie shot out from out group, glowing boldly. 

The boy and girl spoke together, "What is that THING!" she had a heave accent; she must be Irish. But before anyone could explain, the owl that had fetched Nickel swooped down on Ollie. 

"No! Run Ollie! Run! Run! Run!" But it was no use. The bird was trained on my hedgehog. I pulled as hard as I could towards Ollie, and detached myself from the mess I was in, finally. I fumbled towards the hedgehog who curled into a little terrified ball to protect himself from the descending owl, quills sharpened and out and ready to prick the owl. I covered my eyes as I saw that I couldn't stop the inevitable and turned away.

For a moment, everything stopped. No one moved, no one talked. And it wasn't just in my mind. Then, a loud clunk sounded and reverberated loudly through the train station. I refused to move. Simply refused.

But one look couldn't hurt, could it? I turned around and was confronted with a scene straight out of my imagination. _What in God's name …? _

The owl slowly tilted on its side, rocking back and forth in a position of attack. It had been turned to solid gold. Ollie moved forward cautiously, and slowly poked the metal creature with his nose and that touch was enough to tilt it over. The stone-like bird fell over onto its side, and the sound of its fall reverberated in an even higher crescendo than the original fall.

I gawked at the site. The golden owl lay on its side and Ollie was sitting next to it and he appeared to be laughing.

"My owl! You turned Gufo into gold! I'm going to get you, you little … little … I don't care what you are I'm going to get you!" The rusty girl with a very heavy Irish accent glared at Ollie, but I stepped in the way. I would save Ollie, and then kill him later. 

"Sorry 'bout that miss." I tried to put on a winning smile, aware very quickly how dismally I had failed.

"You owe me a new owl!" She eyed me with the same look I had bestowed upon my mother earlier. I was beginning to get uncomfortable. The rage so besought by her race was boring into my soul and that was making me rather squeamish. And I of all people knew enough not to mess with an angry Irishwoman.

I desperately wanted to make friends with this girl, but the laughter that sounded around me only made her angrier and made it seem impossible to attain this goal. With each chuckle her face went a tinge redder, and my chances for survival went a tick lower.

The boy who had fallen down with us came and stood by my side, looking at the girl bemusedly. He held his hand sideways out to me, not taking his eyes off of her. "I'm Johnathan, pleasure to meet you. How'd you do that? I mean, turn her owl into gold. Or whatever it turned into." I smiled, he looked very interesting and the he also looked to be the type who could protect me easily. He had golden locks that flowed over his face and big blue eyes that sparkled. He exuded an aura of complacency and safety.

I shook his hand spiritedly, hoping I had gained a comrade. "I have no idea. Ollie did it," I tried to find my mother so that she could help me explain more fully the oddity's of Ollie, but she was no where to be found.

He looked over his shoulder, finally taking his eyes of the Irishwoman, "So that's the thing's name. What is it?"

"A hedgehog. At least he seems very similar to a hedgehog, so I'm assuming a hedgehog. Most hedgehogs don't turn Irish people's owls into gold."

"I don't think most hedgehogs turn anyone's owl into gold. Why is he gold? The hedgehog I mean," We were both speaking out of the side of our mouths so as not to piss the girl off. We both knew it wasn't working, and she could see us, but we didn't stop anyway.

I looked over at Ollie, and answered Johnathan very matter-of-factly, "I made an oops."

"You made 'an oops,' well that's a new one." His eyes sparkled with intelligence and hidden laughter. I liked him.

"Hello! I'm still here! And I want another owl. Now." The angry Irish girl spoke venomously and loudly. I considered answering with a clever retort for a moment, emboldened by my new friendship with Johnathan, but then my new friend spoke very quietly into my ear.

"It was a pleasure meeting you. I hope that girl doesn't kill you before you get onto the train. See ya later!" and then he ran off.

"Bloody English-man. Got piss for blood." I spoke bitterly in a voice I thought was under my breath.

The Irish girl slowly walked up to me, and within a moment we were nose to nose. I could really see her eyes because she was so close, she looked rather like a Cyclops from this angle. It figured that she was short like me, she gave off a very tall personality. If she was really as tall as she acted, she would have to be at least 11 foot, but of course that's impossible for a young girl, probably impossible for anyone.

She glared at me, and I feared she was going to spit on me. Her irises were violet and I wondered if that was really her natural eye color. It was intriguing. Here glare was disheartening however, she looked ready to charge and kill.

I took a step back, to make myself feel better and so that I wouldn't feel like I was staring down at her. She stepped towards me defiantly. I considered deferring to her, and just walking away, but then I realized that wasn't like me at all. I squared my shoulders and let my eyes bore into hers the same way she was trying to do to me.

Quick as lightning, her demeanor changed, she smiled and punched my shoulder; hard. "I like you! My ma always said the English were a bad bunch, and here you go insulting them, and also standing up to me. I like you for it." She held out her hand boldly, but she couldn't hold it out very far because she was so close to me. I took a step back and shook her hand; she had a very strong grip. "The names Copper. Copper Miller. What's your name?"

"Maybell Shorter." She still wasn't letting go of my hand. I tried to pull away nicely, but she just held on stronger. I finally wrenched my hand from her grip and while rubbing it I said, "I'm from America. I don't know much about the English yet."

Copper drew back suddenly and violently. Her facial features formed into a mask of confusion, "My mother always said the only thing worse than an English-man was an American." I gulped in air, damn her mother and her theories! Coppers face relaxed and she put her arm around my shaking shoulders, "But I like you."

I smiled, and put my arm around her, "I like you too." We both laughed at my atrocious accent compared to her authentic Irish one. I then pulled my arm out from around her shoulders and turned to put all my luggage back on my cart, ready to get on the train and actually start the adventure of Hogwarts. Copper did the same.

After putting all of her luggage onto the cart, she stopped and looked at Gufo, her owl, who was lying pathetically on his side, surrounded by a group of people. She shoved her way to the center and bent down, reaching out to grab him. A boy touched her shoulder, "Excuse me. I was wondering if you still wanted your owl, I mean he is dead and all, and I would be willing to buy him off of you for a goodly sum."

I rushed in and grabbed Ollie, ready to protect him from an angry Copper again. "No, I don't want to sell my owl. If I wanted to sell my owl I would have offered to sell it!"  
She reached over to grab Gufo off the ground, but was knocked over by the boy. He greedily plucked the owl off the ground and turned to run with it. But his feet were stuck to the ground, and slowly turning into gold. He dropped Gufo on the ground, who landed with a very loud SMACK and tried to move his feet with his hands. His hands got stuck to his legs and began to turn to gold themselves. The golden metal crept up his legs and arms and slowly engulfed his torso, much the same way Ollie had turned to gold, and within a moment he was a completely golden statue.

I muttered, "Uh-oh."

Someone who must have been the boys mother ran up to him screaming, "What have you done to my son!" and she grabbed his shoulder. Her hand immediately began to turn to gold as well, and she drew it back to herself, clutching it as if it was wounded. The slithering golden poison slipped up her arm, deathlike and soon her entire body was golden as well. Just before her head was submerged she said, "What the hell." This was exactly what I was thinking.

Students were beginning to gather around the spectacle, many of the same faces from our fall earlier. Another student walked towards the statues and reached to grab the boy, but Copper stopped him by grabbing his arm and spinning him around. "What are you stupid? If you touch them, you'll turn into gold as well!" 

I looked behind her and saw Johnathan pushing his way through the crowd. He came and stood by me, arms crossed over his chest and staring at Copper in the same bemused fashion as before. I spoke first. "You bastard. You left me."

"I don't even know you. Plus, you seemed to have handled it very well on your own. She's off yelling at someone else." At this point, he took notice of the two new golden statues standing in front of us. He turned and looked down at me, at least it felt like he did, he was only an inch or so taller than me. "What did you do?" I opened my mouth to protest, putting Ollie behind me, it wasn't our fault, "Ok, what did he do?" I was about to speak, but he cut me off again, catching the look of denial in my eyes, "Fine, what happened?"

"That boy tried to steal Gufo from Copper, the one whose gold, but when he picked Gufo up, he turned into gold too. Then that woman came up screaming, touched his shoulder, and turned into gold too. See, I had nothing to do with it!"

He laughed, "Coppers the angry one with purple eyes, eh? And Gufo's the gold owl. This is interesting."

"Yes to the first too, no to the last one. I'm just waiting for this to come back to being my fault, you already blamed me." I made a large hand flourish, and looked grimly on the situation before me.

A red-headed boy came bounding out from the middle of the crowd and grabbed Copper by the collar and pulled her aside. He spoke to her in a very agitated matter, and his actions and hand movements betrayed the same emotion as well, but Copper stayed very "sang froid," to the last drop. Finally he turned away from her and addressed the crowd, "My name's Arthur Weasely and I'm head boy! I'm going to levitate these two people, and … ahem … and Gufo the owl onto the train where Madame Pomfrey and Dumbledore will look at them. If he decides that they are beyond his help, they will be sent to St. Mungo's. Please do not touch the golden people. We do not need another statue."

He turned again towards the statues, and with a flick of his wand and a muttered spell they were all three flying in the air onto the train. Copper motioned to me, grabbed her cart and began to walk behind this Arthur Weasley. I followed suit, dragging my cart behind me and Ollie on my shoulder and Johnathan behind me.

Once on the train, Johnathan, Copper and I sat in the same compartment, alone. The other students, we assumed, were afraid to sit with us. Some because they feared Copper would yell at them and make them cower, and yet others afraid that I would turn them into gold. At least that Ollie would. Golden Gufo sat on a chair next to Copper and Johnathan and I sat across from the two of them; Johnathan was still staring at Copper like he had in the train station, and he had a look of mischief in his eye.

Me, I was curling up slowly into a ball, wishing for my mother. I'm aware that I should totally roll with it, be fine with what had just happened, but I wasn't. I was absolutely petrified that once I got to Hogwarts, I was going to be expelled because of my behavior at the train station. Even though it wasn't my fault.

The more and more I thought the more and more nervous I became. I sunk lower and lower into my seat. Johnathan leaned over and whispered into my ear, "Don't worry; I'll make this more interesting soon. Just leave it to me,"

I ignored him and continued to wallow in self-pity.


	5. Battles of Wits

_**Battles of Wits**_

Johnathan was the first to speak after the train began to move on that fateful journey to Hogwarts. His voice rose over the screaming country side that flew by the window. What possessed him to speak as he did is a complete and utter mystery, and will remain so for as long as time exists. "Hey there, Rusty," He was addressing Copper, of course, "Don't be sad about your owl, now he matches the family. He almost fits in better than you, I think."

The snap of Copper's head was palpable as she spun from the window to face the bold Johnathan. She glared with a stare that would make most body builders shudder, but Johnathan didn't even flinch. In fact, instead of betraying weakness, he smiled playfully as if a grand joke had been said, but he was too cool for laughter, so he would only smile. Their eyes locked for what to me seemed to be an eternity and my body shifted very uncomfortably in my seat next to Johnathan. If her anger missed by a hair, it would spot on hit me. This thought jolted me to move a little more towards the door and away from Johnathan. After noting my movement away from her insulter, Copper seemed convinced that her evil glance and smidgen of an ancient evil eye had been enough to stop Johnathan in his tracts and convince him that any more insults or "jokes," were not appropriate and that he should stop before death fell upon him. With this conviction, she turned back to her window without saying a single word to either Johnathan or I. It was amazing the words and worlds she could say and show without any use of language, I sat in complete awe.

No matter how amazing however, Copper was still wrong about Johnathan; very wrong. He dared to speak yet again, "After all, you're Rusty, rusty metal, and your brother is Nickel, like that American money." Johnathan paused thoughtfully, and for a moment it seemed that mercifully he had decided to cease his imbecilic actions. But alas, he hadn't, "Your mother must have been Radium and your father Francium, or the other way around perhaps. It's the only explanation for you and your actions." He smiled again, hinting at a brilliant joke behind the incognito words. I tried only for a moment to ignore it, to ignore him, but finally curiosity conquered me and I was forced to ask the unspoken obvious question on everyone's mind.

"Why?"

Johnathan turned to me, his smile stilly playing mischievously on his lips. He licked his words and spoke as though telling my five year old self her favorite fairy tale before bedtime, "Well, dear Maybell, only that much radioactivity could produce someone as screwed up as Copper. It's only logical. Why, with her temper and the way she acts on that temper, it's the only conclusion anyone can come to. In a family of metals, the radioactivity was bound to get to one of them eventually. To bad it rusted her hair as well."

I laughed, he was quite clever. But, Coppers face abruptly cut my laughter short. As funny as his logic had been, it certainly didn't convince me to try to commit suicide by angering the Copper; again. Her fists were clenched extremely tight, and this inexplicably spurred Johnathan to dig a deeper ditch for himself. He spoke in a sing song voice, "Why Rusty, why are you so angry? I'm only explaining you to Maybell here. Maybell deserves to know the real Rusty after all, the metal that oxidized and Rusted into a beautiful, ahem, lovely rust color. Don't you want Maybell to know why you're called Rusty?" All this speech managed to do was to infuriate Copper further and provoke a small smile from me. Coppers face began to flush red and her fists clenched even more than before. I stopped smiling.

She managed to keep her voice amazingly quiet and steady. Steadier than mine would have been, "My name. Is not. Rusty. You arrogant prick." She paused between every couple of words to draw breath, I thought indicating her resistance to jumping up and killing the ever-so-bold Johnathan. This made me a very happy person, if she didn't try to kill Johnathan she couldn't accidentally miss and hit me. Completely aware of my cowardice, I attempted to move back in between them, perhaps helping to deter Coppers ferocity, however knowing I would fail miserably.

Johnathan laughed at both Copper and I, "Hmm, you could have fooled me. You really look like a Rusty you know. I think I'll have to make that your real name. It'll be a nickname, just for you. Maybell and I will use it." My head snapped to him, cursing him silently for brining me into this.

At this point, a slam and a slight scuffle came from outside of our compartment door. Standing guiltily in the window, was a gaggle of students of all ages gazing avidly at the argument brewing in our compartment. None of them, of course, were brave enough to come in to find out exactly what was going on, but all were interested enough to spy from the window. Copper didn't take well to this, she got up and slowly walked to the window in the door and bestowed the most evil, most frightening glare I had ever seen, and I'm positive had ever been used before in human existence. All of the kids at the door were frozen in fear from the stare, even the older students. "AHH!" Copper raised her hands menacingly with her battle cry, and when a quick and petrified shout sounded from the group, the entirety of the folks at the door ran for their lives in various directions towards supposed safety away from Copper. As an extra precaution against stragglers, Copper opened the compartment door and looked around for a moment before returning to her seat to reprimand Johnathan.

"You'll call me Copper, stupid brute, just like everyone else does." Due to the authority in her voice, the temptation to salute seemed irresistible to me. I managed to save myself the embarrassment however by sitting on my hands until she continued to speak again, "I hate that name, Rusty," She spoke Rusty like a curse, "Even more than I hate the name …" she stopped herself just in time.

She faltered, Johnathan pounced. He could smell weakness like lioness hunting in the wilderness. Only a male lioness. "What name? What are you talking about? Tell me, I promise not to call you Rusty if you tell me what name you hate more than Rusty. Or less. The name you hate less than Rusty. C'mon, tell me! I won't tell a soul! I swear!" Copper and I stared at him, neither saying word, merely shocked at such a blatant lie that he actually thought he could get away with, "Ok, at least tell me why people call you Copper. You can give me that."

She eyed him, scarce believing his stupidity. "Because, you moron, I have copper colored hair." I laughed, thinking her answer quite appropriate.

"Oh. That's the name of that color, I knew it had a name other than rusty, but I decided not to think of it because you seemed to hate the name Rusty so much. But I swear I won't call you that again! Just tell me this other name! If you hate it less, it's got to be better than listening to me call you Rusty all your life." Copper continued to glare, "Fine, why is Nickel called Nickel. He's got bright red hair, not silver."

Copper laughed patronizingly, "You really are stupid. For all of your big words, deep down, you're just an idiot like all the other boys, the vast majority of other people. Nickel is short for Nicholas. And if you had eyes in your head, you'd realize that in my family, like me, no one likes to be like other people. You can tell that just by looking at us. With a last name like Miller, we have to do all we can do to get rid of the ordinariness that a name like Miller implies. So we end up with random nicknames and random hair colors. Instead of Nick, or Nicky, he went with Nickel to be different and cool. Something you know nothing about, you're nothing but a follower. And by the way, this isn't my real hair color."

Johnathan clutched his heart, "You've got me! I'm nothing but a shallow loser! Fix that! Make me different from all the other people who call you Copper and tell me the other name!" He fell down at her feet and clutched her knees, "I don't want to be ordinary anymore!" Johnathan burst into fake, but loud, racking sobs.

I tilted my head, deeming the situation safe to get into, "You already don't call her Copper. You call her Rusty, thereby making you different. But I'll help you; I think you belong to the ordinary class anyway. I'll start calling her Rusty too. Maybe then she'll tell us the real name. The 'other,' name."

Copper laughed, surprisingly, "You're ganging up on me! Fine! It's Haviland! Happy! That's my real name; Haviland."

Johnathan and I both erupted into laughter. It cut deep into my gut, a name like Haviland didn't fit Copper at all, and it certainly didn't make me wonder as to why she despised it so much. We laughed for what seemed like forever before Copper finally joined us in our festivities. Our stomachs all hurt immensely from the deep belly giggles, and we all sat on the floor so we could move more with our laughter. Some students gathered at the door again, shocked at the change from before; anger to joy. Copper needed only to glance this time to send them scattering like pigeons scared in a school yard by rambunctious children. This feat sent us into another spasm of laughter, and it wasn't until the cart lady with food came that we stopped.

Johnathan ordered a bit of everything on the cart, I didn't get anything because I had no idea what any of it was, and Copper ordered two Chocolate Frogs and a Shamrock Cake. "Irish Pride," was the only answer she had for buying the horrid looking cake. Both Johnathan and I were rather disgusted by the look of the green vomit, but didn't say a thing. Johnathan offered some of his food to all of us, including Copper. I laughed a bit more, by myself, shocked at the change a good laugh could have on people. Laughter was really the best medicine; I prayed this peace would last, that the last of the arguments had been put behind us.

We all sat on the floor in a twisted triangle with all the food between us and Ollie sitting happily in my lap, not causing any trouble what-so-ever. We talked and laughed a bit, none saying anything of real interest or of real importance. At one point, when the conversation began to lull, Johnathan broke the silence with a random quote I have vowed to work into some other boring situation in my life, the way he did, "Stanley looked quite bored and often detached, but then, penguins often are."

Both Copper and I laughed loudly and gregariously at this, even though it made no sense and to be honest wasn't that funny. We were on a bit of a sugar high. Soon, the conversation became more of a good natured argument, seeing whose rhetoric was the best.

"I will confound you with my cleverness," I laughed.

"Well, I'll ravish you with my radiant rhetoric," Copper said,

"I'll baffle you with my bullshit," I yelled.

"Good one, I like that. Hmm, I'll dazzle you with my deviant devices," Johnathan attempted.

"Deviant devises? What are deviant devises?" Copper said.

"Ya, what are they? When you argue, you at least have to make some logical sense, otherwise what's the point in even saying anything. It's human nature to classify things, human nature to make life more logical and that's what we are attempting to do her, logically classify life in general by saying things that make sense and classify what we are going to do to the other. And here you sit, making absolutely no sense and completely missing the point of the game, I vote that you be taken out of the game." I said this all very quickly, hoping to squeak it by Johnathan.

"I was actually looking at them more as the 'Yo mama's,' for smart people," Copper said laughingly.

Johnathan gave up completely at this point, "Well you are all nauseating nacho nibblers anyway. Let's finish up the candy."

Ollie and I tried a bit of all of the candies Johnathan and Copper had to offer, including a bit of Copper's Shamrock Cake to make her feel better. The Shamrock Cake really tasted a lot like grass, but I neglected to say anything to Copper, not wanting to insult her and not wanting to anger her. I also tried a few Chocolate Frogs and obtained two wizarding cards, Albus Dumbledore and D.J. Conway. Copper informed me that both cards were collectables, but nearly everyone had both. I was enjoying myself immensely, happy with what was going on. Johnathan offered me some of Bernie Bott's Every Flavored Jelly Beans, and I grabbed a green one and popped it into my mouth. I gagged and spit it onto the floor, "Oh my god! That tasted like snot!" Johnathan and Copper both burst into laughter, again, as I tried to clear my throat and mouth of the disgusting taste.

"When they say every flavor, they mean every flavor," Copper spat out, trying to subdue her laughter. She reached over and smacked Johnathan over the head "Be nice to Maybell. Stop laughing at her!"

Just under an hour into the train ride, and the happiness was shattered, again, "Yes, Haviland." The mood immediately shifted from a party atmosphere, to yet again a hostile environment.

"I told you to call me Copper, you arrogant jerk. If you call me Haviland again, I will be forced to punish you fiercely." Johnathan refused to listen to this warning; apparently he still thought that we were just messing around. I stared on, convinced at this point that I was a safe bystander and actually looking forward to this little snit. They were both smart enough to say some rather interesting things.

"Oh, Haviland … don't be so touchy. I only want to make you love your real name and stop hating yourself so much."

"I don't hate myself."

"Yes you do."

"No I don't! I hate you!" Copper yelled.

"Yes, clearly. The fact that you absolutely loathe your real name shows me that truly, deep down, you loathe yourself really, not your name. Haviland, it's time to come to terms with the name your parents endowed onto you, and with yourself. Nobody here hates you but yourself."

"Shut up. You don't know what your talking about. Go n-ithe an cat thú is go n-ithe an diabhal an cat." Johnathan and I looked at each other.

"What in the world does that mean, Copper?" I asked, sincerely curious.

"It means, may the cat eat you, and may the cat be the devil in Gaelic."

"Now Copper, don't you think that's rather harsh?" Johnathan asked quietly, I think he was a little shocked at her statement.

"No."

"I'm just trying to help you!" Johnathan yelped, finally showing a tad bit of fear.

"Look, I'm telling you, if you call me Haviland one more time," she looked around the cabin, then spotted Gufo who still sat golden on the seat he had been on the whole time, "I'm going to throw Gufo at you and turn you to gold!"

Johnathan chuckled, fear evaporated, "You can't touch Gufo with out turning to gold yourself," He crossed his arms over his chest, convinced he had won.

But not quite, "Then Maybell and I will throw you onto Gufo."

"What! Maybell! You can't drag me into this!" I was frantic, this was not a good situation to be in, "When did Maybell get into this! Maybell wants nothing to do with this. Maybell is quite happy being Maybell and watching you two fight like dogs and I see no reason to make Maybell get involved. Maybell couldn't do anything."

From where Gufo sat, a small, nearly silent, "Who," sounded from near the golden statue.

"What in the world?" Copper turned to face Gufo and stared at the little golden bird until …

"Who!" sounded again.

"Oh my goodness! It's talking! I mean … whoing!" I spoke gaily and freely, full of joy, "Ollie didn't kill it! Yes!" I punched the air and whirled Ollie up into my arms.

Copper and Johnathan laughed. Copper was about to reach out and touch the bird when … Snap! Its head changed from gold to regular color. Gufo turned his head around in a full circle, the creepy way only owls can, and as his head reached normal position one of his talons became real again. The tensed and untensed, then dug into the seat, ripping a small hole. Copper reached out to stop him, but I grabbed her arm just in time, "Don't risk it," I said, and we all turned back to look at the owl. Only Ollie seemed upset at this turn of events, the rest of us were enraptured by the bird emerging from its golden cocoon.

Soon, the entire bird was back and shaking off the only remains of the golden statue, some golden flakes. Copper reached down and scooped the bird off the chair before we could stop her, "Oh Gufo! I'm so glad your ok!" but thankfully nothing horrible happened.

Johnathan and I began to cheer, but Copper clearly showed that she was still angry with him with only one look, and with that we fell silent.

At that point, two students, including Sirius Black, ran into our compartment. "Hey! Guess what! You didn't kill those people, Maybell! Well, they didn't die. But they think you tried to kill them," Sirius shouted, and then he spotted the owl, "I guess you aren't an animal killer either. But ya, those people you didn't kill are coming down here. But, they aren't, like, happy." The boy next to him with messy black hair laughed, "I would suggest hiding, of course, you've got no where to hide. But you should try anyway. Just thought I should warn you."

"Wait! Dude!" The messy haired boy spoke, "I have an idea! Wait here!" and he ran off without saying anther word

"Don't worry about him, he'll be back soon, I think." Sirius said, "That's just James. He tends to run off like that sometimes."

"Oh, you know him outside of Hogwarts then." I said.

"No. I just met him today, outside the train thingy. He was wearing a really spiffy hat and bragging about it, so I cursed it off his head and hid it in my bag. But he doesn't know it was me, and I'm still 'helping,' him look for it. I don't think he'll be coming back though. I bet he was just running away so that he wouldn't be here when that boy and his mom got here, they want to kill you man. Oh hi wand hedgehoggy man!" He bent down and picked Ollie up off of the floor and held him up to his cheek. "Man, you've got one groovy hedgehog. That was great, how you made him out of a sign and all that. What do you think that guy Ollivander meant by kindred spirits"

"I have no idea, but don't call me man," I responded out of fright, not anger. Copper and Johnathan exchanged looks, no doubt wondering what Sirius meant by that "guy, Ollivander," since both of them had no doubt ably bout their wands from him. At that particular moment James flew back into the compartment clutching an old and heavy looking worn blanket in his snow white hands.

I eyed the blanket suspiciously, and he caught it, "They're coming! No time to explain just be quiet," he threw the heavy blanket over my head and body and shoved me into a corner.

I heard saw Copper through the blanket. She was fuzzy and out of focus and she started to say, "What the …? What did you do with Maybell!" but then James shushed her. I looked down and saw what Copper meant; my entire body was just … gone! Not there! James ushered Johnathan, Sirius and Copper into the seats, then sat by Sirius and started up a lively conversation. I stayed quiet so as not to betray my position to the angry mob that was apparently after me.

"So how about them Cannons, eh? Best Quiddich team ever I reckon."

Sirius caught on, "Oh, but of course! What other team has anything on them, after all?"

Then … BAM! The boy and his mother slammed into the compartment. "Where in the world is that Maybell girl!" the woman shouted, "She's going to pay for this! I have no interest in going to Hogwarts, no interest at all. I don't even want Leonard here going to Hogwarts! And now this Maybell girl has ruined all of it! Where is she! I'm going to give her a piece of me mind, and my foot! I was told it was her … hedgehog that did this to us! Tell me where she is!"

James calmly said, "She's not here. If she was, believe me, you'd know. That big blue hat stands out against the crowd of commoners like a big, red, well blue, thumb." I reached up and touched my hat; I hadn't realized it made such an impression.

"Fine. If you see her, tell him I'm looking for her. And tell her I'm very nice and I want to just THANK HER for kindly putting me on this bloody train!"

The boy next to her spoke for the first time, "Mom, it's really not that bad. I'm sure you'll just apparate home as soon as we get to Hogwarts. You could probably do it now if you wanted."

"That's not the point, Timothy. The point is I've wasted an hour of my precious time being GOLD when I could have been making gold instead! I'll make her pay." She grabbed his ear and dragged him out of the compartment. I flung the blanket off of my head and smiled from ear to ear.

"What is that thing?" I gestured to the blanket that was in my arms now.

"It's an invisibility cloak; my dad gave it to me. He said it would be useful at Hogwarts. I guess it already is." He took it back.

Sirius rose regally, like a king rising to greet his subjects. He strutted over to where James and I stood, and then wrapped his arm around my shoulders. "Since I brought James to you, good lady, I see that it is only fitting that I reap the rewards of saving your arse."

I laughed, "And what, good sir, are those rewards? A gallon or two perhaps?"

"Nothing so trivial." He leaned in with his eyes closed and I figured out a second before he reached me what he was trying to do. With a resounding SMACK I quashed his advances. The slap left his entire face a bright red color with a white hand print where my hand had connected.

"Don't you ever try that again." I stopped. "That's just so … so … GROSS!"

James laughed hard and slapped his knee over and over again falling to the floor, and Copper and Johnathan began to chuckle a bit as well. Only Sirius and I weren't laughing, and we were glaring daggers at each other. "Come on James, let's go."

"Oh no. I want to see the two of you try to talk again. That was funny!" Sirius punched his friend in the arm, and tried to grab his arm to drag him out of the compartment, but James wouldn't comply.

I glared furiously at Sirius, and he in turn glared back. "Get out of my compartment, you stupid prat."

"Stupid prat! You lead me on; you acted like you were going to kiss me! What was I supposed to do, not take you up on the offer?"

"You should have known what I was insinuating when I said 'A gallon or two,' You … you … MORON!"

He stopped and said quietly, "Insinuating?" But then his voice grew louder, "I am not a moron! I'm sure there are plenty of girls around here willing to kiss a guy like me. Probably some that are older then me!"

"Then go kiss them and leave me alone! I want nothing to do with you!"

"I … I should just do that!"

"Fine. N-ithe an cat thú is go n-ithe an diabhal an cat, you git!"

At this point, before Sirius could answer or ask what I meant, a girl with long flowing red hair and green eyes poked her head into the compartment, "Is there a problem here?" she said quietly, "I'm Lily Evans; I do hope none of you are arguing already. That's no way to start of the school year."

I looked at her quizzically; no one I had ever met had had so melodious a voice. It was like she and while she spoke, and apparently I wasn't the only one taken by her. James was peering up at her as though she were heaven on earth, hanging on her every word. Sirius was the first to speak, "No, doll, none of us were arguing. But I was wondering …"

At this James socked him in the stomach and turned to face Lily, "Don't mind Sirius. He's a stupid prat, ask Maybell. She told him." He turned and pointed to me.

"That's because he is a stupid prat. Don't let him near you, he might just randomly grab you and shove his tongue down your throat! Run, dear girl, RUN!"

Lily looked around, "I think you've got this handled nicely, I'm going to go find another compartment."

James said, "Wait I'll go with you! Come on Sirius!" and with that, dragged a still angry Sirius out of our compartment and into the hall after Lily before he could talk to me again.

We all sat for a moment in silence, and then started to laugh. Well, Copper and Johnathan started laughing. Then Copper realized that she was still furious with Johnathan for calling her Haviland, again.

Johnathan laughed, Copper glared. She spoke, "I will find a way to punish you, and it will be worse than turning you to gold, since I can't do that now." With this she jumped back into her seat beside Gufo, gave him a pat and granted an evil glance to Johnathan. I looked over to Johnathan and glared at him, evil enough in my own right.

"Thanks a lot! Now look what you've done." I pulled myself up into a seat beside Copper and glared at a wall across from me, royally upset that my fun had been interrupted.

This left Johnathan sitting in the middle of the floor, surrounded by candy wrappers and uncertainty. The look on his face marvelously displayed his emotions for Copper and me to study, but we both were too busy glaring at things in the distance.

Soon, however, after Johnathan had returned to his seat, I saw Copper position her right hand in her pocket pointing towards Johnathan. I decided not to comment, and rather observe what was going to happen next. Then, something out the window interested Copper to a high degree, and she focused intently on an invisible point in the distance. The fervor on her face and the determination and scrutiny of the horizon spurned me to look for whatever it was that interested her, but I couldn't find a thing remotely interesting and worthy of looking at beyond flashing trees and the occasional rock.

Johnathan took this hint as well, and began scanning the countryside looking for whatever 'it,' was. Copper's attention turned slightly from the countryside, though her eyes didn't, and she muttered nearly inaudibly what sounded like, "I capelli rosa è grandi," and … POP! With a snap and a crackle, Jonathan's hair was transformed from beautiful sculpted blonde to a mane of sparkling and sparking and tangled pink locks.

I burst out in laughter. His hair, his eyebrows, and his eyelashes were a brilliant shade of hot pink, and as if that wasn't enough, they were sparkling and sparking like a fourth of July firework show! Johnathan, of course, couldn't see his hair, but he could certainly hear it.

"Oh dead Lord! The train is breaking down!" He jumped out of his seat which agitated the sparks more so they were louder and now beginning to smell of burning hair, "Oh no! It's getting worse! Come on guys; let's go before we all die!"

Copper and I both rolled onto the floor, laughing hysterically. This only served to send Johnathan into more of a panic. As he became more and more hysterical, the sparks became more and more agitated and the smell got worse and worse. I grabbed onto Copper to keep myself from completely falling to the floor, and she held onto me.

Johnathan's words became incoherent, which only served to send Copper and me into more hysterics. We were enjoying the scene of Johnathan freaking out when Lily returned with Sirius and James in tow. She tried to speak above the ruckus we were making, and succeeded only partially.

"It's time to change into the school uniforms! The train will be arriving soon at Hogwarts! That means you too, James and Sirius."

Sirius looked like he was about to respond with a smart comment back to her, because he saw me sitting there clutching Copper, but then he spotted Johnathan. Johnathan was still running around like a madman, and Sirius listened for a moment to figure out what he was saying. Amazingly, he understood, "Dude, the train isn't breaking down. It's just your hair mate. Calm down!" He then left swiftly with Lily and James.

Johnathan stopped freaking out and gradually the sparking and smell went down. He turned and looked into the window, catching site of his reflection. "Damn you, Copper. I'm going to get you for this. Just you wait."


	6. A Glowing Start

hr 

So, as many of you are probably surmised, or know since I've been complaining incessantly, I have a severe case of writers block right now. In order to conquer this foe, I have decided to write in the third person for this installment of, "The Long and Short of It." I apologize if it causes any confusion and I don't think any of the other chapters will be written in the third person from this point on. However, you never really know with me. So, at any rate, I'm done with my little speech … On with the story from where I left off.

/hr 

**_ b i center u A Glowing Start /b /i /center /u _**

It took Copper and Maybell a very long time before they finally were able to uproot a very disgruntled Johnathan out of their compartment. But, the girls did have to change, alone, and he did eventually have to leave, his pink hair ablaze.

Even Ollie and Gufo appeared to be sympathetic to Johnathan's plight. They both solemnly sat staring mournfully at him has he dejectedly admitted defeat and moved away from the cabin. If it had been possible, they would have offering him melancholy advice on how to deal with and handle the evil's of other students comments on his distinctly feminine hair. 

Copper was also quite upset at the secession of Johnathan from the compartment because the moment he was outside a cruel barrage of laughter greeted him. Maybell, perhaps, felt the worst of all; she felt as though she had had a very large hand in the humiliation of Johnathan and his cursing because she had not stood up for him. He had, after all, been quite nice to her and this was how she repaid him. By allowing him to be torn apart at the hands of cruel students. She felt as though she should have taken a stronger stance and stood up to the formidable Copper; but she also realized doing this would mean having to stare down her daunting purple eyes, "Copper," Maybell said tentatively, "Is there any way you could maybe change his back to normal color, maybe? You know, before we get to Hogwarts … I feel horrible." More peals of laughter could be heard down the hall as she spoke.

"Why would I want to change him back?" Copper said defensively, too defensively, "He needs to learn not to be a jerk to people. I did him a favor by teaching him that lesson. I was helping him; I am helping him."

Maybell sat silently for a moment, "Is it really for you to teach?" She buckled her Mary Jane shoes on and sat back comfortably in her seat, "I mean, you're, and well we're the same age as Johnathan. Who are we to decide what he needs to learn and what he doesn't?"

Copper's glare had a strange quality to it. They reminded Maybell a lot of Mr. Ollivander, the way they could stare right through you and into the core. Her purple eyes were hurricanes of anger at the moment and they threatened to bowel Maybell over. Her voice matched her eyes, "You know," Copper paused dramatically, and "You were laughing just as much as I was, as they are. And besides, he really did deserve it. If I didn't teach him the lesson, who would?"

"I suppose," Maybell conceited, "But still, it really wasn't for us … to do. It's not up to us to decide who deserves what."

"Oh!" Copper said, "So now it's 'us.' No, I'm the one who cast the spell. That was all me, you just laughed. There is no 'us,' in this situation. Anyways, he was nice to you; you should have been nice to him. I had no reason to be nice to him, he was to busy being nice to you to be nice to me."

Maybell sighed, "You are a very confrontational person, do you know that? I bet you live a volatile life."

Copper didn't answer; she just looked out the window.

The train began to slow and Copper and Maybell began to collect their luggage to take into the school with them; the compartment was full to the brim with silence. Maybell glanced around for any remaining items that belonged to her, Copper, or Johnathan even.

"What in the world are you girls doing?" Laughter filled the voice and betrayed the owner. Maybell turned to face Sirius Black, color flooding to her cheeks; angry color. James Potter was there as well, and though they were minus Lily, they had gained another boy who appeared rather embarrassed by his two companions.

"Hmm, let's think here." She approached Sirius until they were nose to nose and spoke to him as though he were only in muggle kindergarten, "Let's look at the situation. There's luggage all over the compartment, packed up and ready to go. We're looking in corners for items that may be lost. What does it look like we're doing?"

"When you talk like that, the only answer I have for you is …" Sirius started, a grin flashing.

"It looks like you're doing something really stupid." James finished with a grin matching Sirius' flashing brilliantly.

"But, James," Sirius grin turned wicked and twisted, "Who are we to tell these fine ladies what they should do?" Without warning he stepped into the compartment and swiftly took Maybell's hand into his own and kissed it, with a flourish. Before she could react, he leapt out of the compartment.

"Have fun carrying your luggage," James said smiling, and then went bounding off to follow Sirius to wherever he was going.

The third boy who had just been standing there up until now stepped into the compartment. "I think that's their way of trying to help." He said quietly, "I wouldn't worry about it too much." He shuffled his feet nervously.

"Don't worry." Copper said, because Maybell was staring at her hand, "Because we certainly won't."

"Ok. They were trying to tell you that you don't have to carry your luggage into school, that is unless you want to I suppose. Don't ask me how it gets there," He said quickly as Copper opened her mouth to question him, "It just does." His hands continued to fidget ceaselessly, which in turn made Copper very nervous, especially since Maybell seemed to suddenly be oblivious to everything. "Well, we should probably go out and all. I mean, if you want me to leave you alone, I can." He turned bright red and peered over at Copper out of the corner of his eye, waiting for her refusal and rejection.

"Oh no, it's fine," she didn't want another enemy like Johnathan would surely turn out to be, "But …"

"What?"

"What's your name?"

"Oh," He laughed nervously, "Remus. Remus Lupin."

"Ok, Remus. Let's go." She started off out of the compartment, and then turned to look at Maybell who was off in her own little world. Her face had a surreal quality to it; she wasn't focused on the here and now, but on unreality, the world of imagination. "Maybell?" Copper said loudly, snapping her fingers in front of Maybell's face, "MAYBELL!"

Maybell's voice was disgusted and her face changed into an expression to match her voice. She held up her hand which still had a lip print from Sirius Black, "That. Was absolutely, by far, the most revolting, disgusting … horrible thing that has ever happened to me!"

Copper and Remus both laughed and the three left the compartment.

Maybell continued, "I mean, it's just my hand and I'm disgusted. It's like he spit on my hand. Why would anyone ever want to be kissed on the mouth? Why? It's so gross. I'll tell you, right here, right now, Sirius Black will never, never kiss me on the mouth. If he ever so much as kisses my hand again I'll murder him. It's so gross. I bet no boy will ever kiss me on the mouth, not just Sirius Black. I won't let them."

This one-way conversation continued as they made their way into the throng of students. They didn't really have a problem getting anywhere as the entire student body had heard of either Maybell's hedgehog turning two people to golden statue's or Copper's cursing Johnathan's hair pink. They all stayed far away from both Copper and Maybell.

Surprisingly, Remus stayed with the two despite his classmates' fear of them. Copper finally, her curiosity getting the best of her, asked, "Don't you want to go with Sirius and James, Remus? I mean, we like you and all, it's just everyone else is … well rather afraid of us it appears. I don't want them to hate you just because they hate us."

Remus smiled, "Honestly, I don't think they hate you, first of all. Second, I fell better around you then around Sirius and James, don't ask me why. I'm aware that I shouldn't."

Maybell punched Copper playfully on the shoulder, "Oh, now it's 'us,' again, eh Copper? I'm really not all that sure I want to be a member of this 'us,' partnership here." She laughed at Copper's crestfallen face, and then turned to face the crowds. She grabbed Ollie off of her shoulder and held him out menacingly towards the crowds, making them back away even farther.

"Oh shut up. You know you want to be a part of 'us.'"

"But it's only 'us,' when everyone is afraid of us and hates us. It wasn't 'us' when I got some credit, it's 'us' when everything is going wrong!"

"No, no, no, you've got it all wrong. It wasn't 'us' who cast the spell. That was all me. However, it's 'us' when the entire student body is afraid of us because both of us gave them very good reason's to fear us. I'm not sitting here taking credit for turning those people to gold, for turning Gufo to gold. That was all you. Johnathan's hair was all me. But, everyone being afraid, that's 'us,'"

Maybell threw her hands in the air, "I give up! You win! It's us!"

Copper merely smiled, pleased with her victory.

"Would one of you please tell me what's going on?" Remus implored.

Maybell said "Ollie did it!"

When Copper said, "He deserved it!"

But they said, "But it wasn't my fault!" together.

Remus couldn't decide whether he should laugh, or ask another question, so he just stayed quiet. All he could think of was he thought Sirius and James were interesting, these girls were much more on his level, especially Copper. She was one smart cookie.

The girls started to talk again, almost completely ignoring Remus, lost in their own world of arguments. Remus shuffled his feet and followed them quietly, listening to their conversation and laughing to himself.

Gufo rode high and proud on Coppers shoulder, overlooking the crowd's and his feathers glowed supernaturally in the falling sunlight. Ollie was in Maybell's hands and he too was glowing oddly, Remus stared at the two creatures, mentally noting their similarities. Before he could question, a strong voice rose over the crowds, "Fir' years! Fir' years over 'ere!" Maybell, Copper and Remus, along with the rest of the first years, made their way over to the strong voice.

Soon, all of the first years were gathered around this huge man. Huge is an understatement. To the average man he would be humongous, to the first years gathered around his knees he was beyond gigantic. He was five times as tall of all of them, and he had to be at least three times the size of an average man. Despite his size however, he still made Maybell fell very comfortable. She was surprised to find that he wasn't intimidating whatsoever.

Remus also was very comfortable with the large man's presence, which may have been because he apparently knew him. "Remus!" the big man yelled, "It's good to see ye!"

Remus smiled, "It's good to see you too Hagrid." The two embraced each other.

"I see you've already made some new friends, Remus," Hagrid said affectionately, he held his hand out first to Copper, then to Maybell, " 'Ello, I'm 'Agrid."

Maybell laughed, "I'm Maybell, and this is Copper."

Remus blushed. Copper hadn't realized how white his skin was until his face turned red. She was shocked; he could have been a ghost, a chalk white ghost.

James and Sirius dramatically popped up at this point from what appeared to be nowhere, dragging a very pissed off Johnathan behind them. They were yelling loudly, "He's cursed! Cursed I tell you! Stay out of his way, this little boy is contagious." People quickly jumped away from Johnathan fearfully, they were so easily manipulated, "Don't piss off this kid's girlfriend guys. I'm telling you!" Sirius yelled, "DON'T PISS HER OFF!"

People started to laugh now, pointing at Johnathan and at Copper, exchanging 'funny,' words behind their hands. James and Sirius were quite pleased with their handiwork. Johnathan wrenched his arm out of their grip, his face contorted in rage. The whispers stopped, "I am not a 'little boy,' and she is i not /i my girl friend. Who the hell do you think you are?" He stepped menacingly towards them, "Leave me alone! What did I ever do to you?"

Sirius, stupidly, didn't realize the game was up. He stood his ground next to Johnathan and said, "You could have fooled me. You seem pretty small, and she really acts like your 'girlfriend.' Good choice mate!" Even James wasn't laughing.

"Why are you obsessed with that?" Maybell stepped forward despite herself, "What do you really know about girls and all … all that stuff anyway! I bet you've never even had a girl friend."

"It doesn't matter whether I've had one or not. I was born with a gift; it runs in my family. I just know women."

"Well, it seems to me that you just don't know anything. I'm inclined to believe that, in fact, you are just a stupid, big fat, brute! A malicious, vengeful insecure bully who tries to cover up his faults by making fun of people and acting like you're all that as far as girls go. It may work on some people, some people may think you're cool, but we haven't even started school and I already see that all you are is a stupid little boy who's incredibly unsure of himself."

"That's where you're wrong," Sirius said without missing a beat, "I'm completely sure of myself. There's no reason arguing it, I have no reason to argue with you. See, they're all afraid of you, not me."

Hagrid stepped between the two, separating their blazing faces. "Everyone onto the boats. Four to a boat, please. You," he pointed to Sirius and James, go on that boat over there." He pointed to the very end of the line of boats, "And you three," Maybell, Copper and Johnathan, "Come with me."

Students scrambled to get boats with their friends and away from people they didn't like, or thought they didn't like. Maybell sat by Johnathan and across from Copper who sat silently by Hagrid who was hurriedly waving a pink umbrella around. The boats began to move away from shore, rowing of their own accord. Copper avoided eye contact with everyone with a fierce determination, Johnathan stared off into the distance, and Maybell's eyes were jumping around ceaselessly, never resting, her face still flushed a flaming crimson and her mind still mentally ripping Sirius Black to pieces. All three nervously awaited the arrival at shore where they would have to face their class mates again, and the rest of the school.

The boats rounded a corner, and for a moment all three forgot everything. The castle loomed in the distance on a hill and it sparkled and dripped with mystery and intrigue. Its lights beckoned the new students into its halls of learning, both in classes and with classmates. The wind picked up surreally and whispered through Maybell's hair, singing softly in her ear of the adventures she had dreamed about not two weeks ago. Hogwarts embodied both the practical and the illogical. That which made sense, and that which did not, things that were seen and unseen, and the vision of the castle the children were no seeing was no less a paradox than the school itself.

The feeling of complacency that came over Maybell at this point shocked her. Suddenly, a feeling of warmth, well-being and safety had invaded her foreign soul, which up until this point had been consumed with so many fiery emotions it hadn't had time to be excited. Suddenly she felt like she was home. Little did she know, most of the other first years were feeling the same as she was.

The boats continued their methodical journey, but the children in them were changed. All were happier now, ready to begin the next seven years of their lives. An eerie silence remained over the first years as the boats came to shore. The students followed Hagrid up to the doors of the castle, Maybell and Copper periodically looked over at Johnathan to see how he was holding out. He had his head down as far as it would go and he refused to look at anyone or to acknowledge where he was and what he was doing.

Most of the other students however, were enamored with the castle. They couldn't take their eyes off of it. It wasn't until a very severe and tall woman came crashing through the doors of the castle that their attention was diverted. "Thank you, Hagrid; I believe I have it from here." Hagrid took this invitation and quick as a flash he disappeared into the castle without a look backwards to the students.

It was forever before the woman opened her mouth again. She had the uncanny ability to keep an entire room silent with merely a glance; with these students however that was unnecessary. They were already quite frightened without her help. "My name." She said quietly, "Is Professor McGonagal. Not McGonagaggle, Not MacGonagal, and you shall never say 'McGonagal,' without the word 'Professor,' preceding it. This goes for all of your Professors and administrators.

"You are here at Hogwarts to learn. I want this to be very clear to all of you." Her eyes began to scan the students, picking them apart visually. The students rummaged nervously and swayed indecisively with the wind. The feeling of complacency was gone and in its place was, once again, fear. "I have been informed that the train ride to Hogwarts was filled with misbehavior and 'pranks,' of all sorts. This is not a good beginning to your years here at Hogwarts." Her eyes landed on Johnathan and they narrowed to slits as her mouth got even smaller than what seemed possible, "That kind of hair is certainly not permitted here. I assume I'm right when I assume that it's a spell that made it that way. The sparkle gives you away." She said as Johnathan tilted his head, wondering how she had known, "Remove it. Now."

Giggles floated into the air with no obvious owner. McGonagal stepped to Johnathan, towering over his cowering figure. "Did you hear me?" Johnathan nodded, "Then what is taking so long?"

Johnathan shrunk even more, defying gravity, "Ma'am," He said, trying to be polite, but his voice quavered, "I …" He stammered, "I don't know … how."

"What do you mean you 'don't know how?'" McGonagal exploded, "How could you perform a spell and not know how to reverse it! Do you realize how unsafe it is to go around charming things without knowing the reverse spell! Did you honestly expect to live the rest of your life with pink hair?"

"I'm sorry!" Johnathan barely managed to squeak out.

"Sorry! What is sorry? You aren't sorry! If you were sorry, you'd find a way to fix the problem …"

Copper was burning red and resolutely she stepped forward, her violet eyes flashing dangerously, "Stop it!" McGonagal turned into frozen statue of ferocity. Slowly, she turned to face Copper and glower down at her from her significantly larger stature, "It was my fault! I cursed him! Don't yell at him, if anyone, yell at me." The world went silent and Copper could uncomfortably feel every pair of eyes trained on her. She could especially feel McGonagal's eyes burning holes into her soul. It was as though the woman's glasses magnified the piercing effect of her glare.

Near silent, McGonagal said, "Then you fix it." This flattened Copper's resolve. Faster than a bullet Copper went from a defender of Johnathan's rights, a champion of justice to a babbling, fearful little girl. McGonagal waited patiently, "Well? What are you waiting for?"

Realization hit Maybell, and she was shocked she hadn't seen it before, "You don't know how, do you! That's why you were so defensive about it!"

Copper didn't take her eyes of McGonagal, but she visibly shrunk, "No." Maybell laughed loudly, shattering the silence. A chorus of giggles followed her, filling the air with mirth.

This was not what McGonagal had had in mind. She rounded viciously on Maybell, brimming with contempt. "And who are you?" She said dangerously over the roar of nervous laughter.

Maybell's laughter abruptly stopped, finally realizing exactly what Copper and Johnathan had felt when McGonagal had been trained on them, "M-Maybell Shorter."

"Well, Maybell Shorter and company," She gestured to Copper and Johnathan, "Wait here." She disappeared into the castle and soon reappeared with a confused Hagrid in tow. "You three, stay here with Hagrid. The rest of you," The laughter stopped, "Come with me please."

Maybell, Johnathan and Copper stood rooted to the ground, petrified. Johnathan looked like he was going to cry.

When every last student was gone, Johnathan turned to Copper, "I figured you knew how to reverse the spell! Why would you curse someone without knowing the counter curse?"

Copper tried to ignore him. Her pride demanded she ignore him. Oh, she tried very, very hard. Johnathan approached her, "Copper," He said, continually moving into her vision as she looked away, "Do you even know what spell you used?"

Her resolve failed, "It's a spell I made up. I have three older brothers who love to pick on me, and two of them are already out of Hogwarts and love to 'test,' new spells on me. I need something to protect myself with, to defend myself with against the evils of my three siblings. I've just never had to reverse it before; my brothers are generally quite capable of removing my spells."

Maybell laughed again, but Hagrid cut her short, "Follow me, I've been told to take you to Dumbledore's office so that McGonagal and Dumbledore can deal with you later." He started to lead the three into the castle, "Normally, Professor McGonagal isn't really that mean, it's just she's having a very bad day. A very, very bad day.

"See, the thing is, everyone was, and is, really upset right now at the entire first year class. Apparently, at the train station, there was a bit of a fiasco where two people and an owl were turning into golden statues by a student. Dumbledore received a letter from the head boy, Arthur Weasley, which did very little to explain the situation and just got nerves up. The older woman who was turned to gold also sent a letter when she 'got better,' I suppose, but she sent it to both McGonagal and Dumbledore. Who knows why … anyways, McGonagal has been in a rage every since. I pity whoever did that, she's going to tear them apart."

Maybell stared down at her feet and said sullenly, "That would be me."

"Oh." Hagrid said and his large face blushed subtly, at least it seemed too, it was hard to tell with the beard. His eyes also assumed a compassionate sheen, "That would explain why I'm taking you to Dumbledore's office."

"Actually," Copper said, talking for the first time, "We're going to his office because I turned Johnathan's hair pink and don't know how to change it back. McGonagal doesn't know it was Maybell yet."

Hagrid laughed, "What a way to start here at Hogwarts." He turned to a statue of a gargoyle they had arrived at and said, "Laffy Taffy." And the gargoyle sprung to life and leapt away from an opening to a large spiral staircase.

"Oh, wow!" Maybell gasped, she had never seen anything so amazing. Copper and Johnathan were also shocked and thrilled. Hagrid and the three stepped onto the staircase, which began to spiral upwards.

The walls around the moving stairs were brick and very reminiscent of an old lighthouse. Maybell briefly entertained the thought that she was the commander of a brilliant lighthouse used to steer lost souls into shore, saving people, being a hero. However, when the reached the door to the office, reality came crashing back down into an unattractive heap.

Hagrid left them alone in the office. There was a semi-circle desk in the middle of the circular room, and only two chairs in front of it. Copper and Johnathan immediately took these two chairs, leaving Maybell standing.

All three were silent, Maybell started to walk around the room, looking at everything. She was especially fascinated with the portraits on the walls. They appeared to be sleeping … but she knew portraits couldn't sleep. She walked over to a cabinet on one side of the room and opened the doors, peering inside. There was an assortment of gadgets and thing-a-ma-bobs. One particular item caught her interest; it was a black orb sitting on three legs that were shaped like dragons. At first glance, the orb appeared to be completely onyx black, but on second one could see various shades of dark purple running through like moving veins, and by third glance it was obvious that all colors of the rainbow were running through this orb, circling it non-stop. The colors moved so quickly, they appeared to run together and became the original black color.

"Hey guys!" Maybell called, "Come look at this!"

Copper and Johnathan reluctantly came over to where Maybell was standing, and soon they two were absorbed in the beauty of the black orb. Maybell reached out to touch it, and she felt a wave of heat run through her arm as she got close, "Maybell!" Johnathan said, grabbing her arm, "Don't touch! Look!" Maybell followed Johnathan's extended arm to a small not attached to one of the legs. In very neat calligraphy it said, "Please, refrain from touching any objects in this cabinet." As she watched the parchment, the letters began to change and rearrange themselves, soon, it said, "Especially you, Maybell, Haviland and Johnathan."

All three jumped away from the cabinet and Maybell slammed the door shut with a loud BANG. Copper and Johnathan returned to their seats, visibly shaken and Maybell went to stand between them. "Why do you two get the seats?" she asked.

"Because we sat here first." Copper answered.

"You can sit on the floor." Johnathan offered, helpfully.

"I doubt they'll be back anytime soon," Maybell's posture became mischievous, "And since that's the only chair left, I'm going to take it."

Maybell bounded over the chair behind the desk and plunked herself comfortably into its cushions. "Maybell!" Copper hissed, "Aren't we already in enough trouble without you pretending to be headmaster!"

"Headmaster?"

"Yes, Dumbledore, he's the headmaster. And you're sitting in his chair! Get up!" she squawked, looking nervously back at the door.

"Oh, I don't think he'll mind." Maybell said, putting her feet up on his desk. "After all, I have the makings of his favorite student." Ollie crawled out of her breast pocket and scurried over her legs and onto Dumbledore's desk, making himself comfortable in Dumbledore's quill holder.

"What in the world do you think you're doing young lady?" A familiar voice sounded from the door as McGonagal strolled into the room, followed closely by Dumbledore. Maybell fell from her seat onto the floor with a loud crash, her feet taking some of the papers on Dumbledore's desk with her.

She stood up quickly and tried to right everything in the office as fast as she could, hurriedly picking the papers of the ground and putting them onto the desk. Her whirlwind actions however, only caused the papers to fall off as quickly as she put them on in the wake of the wind she was creating. Dumbledore stood next to McGonagal still, his eyes twinkling as he watched Maybell try desperately to fix everything.

McGonagal however, was glaring at Maybell, so she didn't notice Ollie who was getting upset with all of the commotion going on around him. Dumbledore did notice Ollie, and he approached the desk and picked the little critter up.

This stopped Maybell. "Sir!" She said urgently, "He's going to turn you into a golden statue."

Copper and Johnathan instinctively backed away from Dumbledore, and Dumbledore laughed outright at their reactions. "So you're the one who caused all the ruckus!" He said affectionately to Ollie, "I'm so glad it wasn't a student." He turned to Maybell, "Mr. Ollivander wrote to me after you visited his store to tell me about your wand of choice, and your new little friend. He suggested that I run some tests on this little hedgehog to find out if he has any magical powers. You see the wand you used to create him, mahogany and unicorn hair is known for its magical ability. This would explain all the happenings at Kings Cross."

Maybell stared at Dumbledore, not knowing what to say. Copper spoke for her, "His name is Ollie, and he turned Gufo to gold."

Dumbledore turned, "Ah, the first victim. Hmm. I see that he is well. Did you know that Gufo means owl in Italian?" He asked.

"Yes." Copper laughed, "We bought Gufo in Italy, and it was the only Italian word I knew at the time. We were outside of this art museum and this guy comes up to me and my mother screaming about how he'll sell us this owl for only a shekel! A Shekel! My mother wanted to refuse it, but I insisted. His full name is Leonard Gestapo Gufo."

Dumbledore laughed, and turned towards Johnathan. "And who might you be?"

"My name is Johnathan Emerson." He said quietly.

"And why is your hair pink?" Dumbledore asked, peering over the top of his glasses, his eyes still twinkling but no longer laughing.

"I did that sir." Copper said, "He was calling me Haviland."

"Oh! So you are the Irish student I was informed of. Yes, your parents wrote me a letter to see if it would be all right for you to come to our school as Ireland has no wizarding school. They also told me you had quite a temper and I should put you down as Copper even though your name is Haviland. Pleasure to meet you, now, would you please change his hair back?"

McGonagal stepped forward, "Professor, that's why they are here. She refuses to change his hair back."

"I don't know how to change his hair back."

"Well, that's easily fixed," Dumbledore said, and with a wave of his wand Johnathan's hair was back to a beautiful blonde color.

"How did you do that?" Copper asked curiously.

Dumbledore leaned close to the three and said in a quiet voice, "The key to magic isn't in the spell, it isn't in the wand and how you move it, the key to magic in here." He patted his heart, "When you truly believe in something and need it to happen, it will happen. That's what being a witch and wizard is, it's believing.

"However, Copper. Even though I was able to fix this mishap, it doesn't change the fact that you shouldn't be cursing students. That will be twenty five points from … well what house are you in?"

"We haven't been sorted yet, sir." Johnathan said.

"Oh! Well that's the first thing we need to do! Minerva, please fetch the sorting hat for me." McGonagal walked out of the office, her face visibly redder than before. Dumbledore turned to the three smiling broadly. "How unfortunate though, one of the most memorable moments of Hogwarts is being sorted in front of the entire school. Most first years turn brick red when all eyes on them."

"Sir," Maybell said, "What house was Sirius Black sorted into?"

"Gryffindor, along with his new friend James Potter and Remus Lupin. It seems to be a very popular house this year."

Maybell slouched down, very unhappy. All of her family had been sorted into Gryffindor, which meant she probably would be too. Seven years with Black. It would be hell.

McGonagal reappeared in the office with a large black hat in her hand. "Who's first?" She asked amiably. No one responded. "Alphabetical order then, Johnathan."

Johnathan stepped toward her and she gestured to the chair he had been sitting in before. As soon as he sat, she plopped the hat onto his head. A few moments later, the hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Copper was next, the hat was barely on her head before it shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Maybell stepped forward, ready to take her turn. She sat down and watched as her vision went black when the hat was placed on her head. "Interesting. You've got quite a mind, however you aren't … well you aren't nice enough for Hufflepuff. You would do well in Slytherin if you wanted to be in Slytherin, however I can tell you would abhor being put in Slytherin. Since you're a Shorter, I suppose it'll have to be GRYFFINDOR!"

Maybell stood and walked over to Copper and Johnathan. Dumbledore rubbed his hands together, "Well, that was easy. Right, that means twenty five points away from Gryffindor for cursing a fellow classmate, Copper. Also, I think two days worth of detention will also do well to teach you a lesson, Copper. Beyond that, there is only one more matter here that needs attending to." Dumbledore held Ollie up, "Do you mind if I borrow him for a while?"

Maybell paused, nervous, "Be really careful." She said, praying fervently that her hedgehog wouldn't turn her headmaster into a golden statue. She figured so far she had been incredibly fortunate not to be in trouble, and it just would be good if he turned to gold because of her pet.

"I will," Dumbledore said, "I'll call you up to my office soon to discuss the results of the tests."

"What are you going to do to him?" As she was afraid for Dumbledore's safety, so was she afraid for Ollie's. She didn't want anyone sticking random needles into him and making him uncomfortable.

Dumbledore seemed to read her mind, "Don't worry, I won't hurt him. Honestly, I think what I'm probably going to do is just watch him, I don't know yet though. We'll talk about it when I see again. Now though, I think you three have a feast to attend to, and so do I."

"What are you going to do with Ollie during the feast?"

Dumbledore laughed at Maybell's question, "Take him with of course! He's got to eat too!"

"Actually, I think he only eats wood."

"Oh. Well that just makes total sense."

hr 

A/N: Reviews! I love Reviews, and thanks to all you wonderful folk who have already reviewed! I apologize for how long it took me to get this out, as I said before, I had a horrible case of writers block. This is why I wrote The Wrong Fireplace. At any rate, the next chapter should be coming out faster than this one did because I already have it all in my head. It's practically mentally written; Note to Billy: HI! I'm glad your reading this … it means you're like me, you have no life  Not to Fiona: Yay! I'm glad you're reading this here instead of in math class, cause honestly, we should really start paying attention if you know what I mean. Note to Arabel: YAY! You finally got around to reading my story, yippee! Note to various other pals of mine: Call me and verbally beat me for not remembering you … Oh yes … Michael: I LOVE YOU! You are FABULOUS!

I'm done now. Shout outs are finished … tee-he.


	7. Green Charms

b i u center Green Charms /b /i /u /center 

Johnathan, Maybell and Copper darted from Dumbledore's office as soon as the three could. Dumbledore and McGonagal remained behind for some unknown reason, and the three had neither reason to investigate nor any desire. Once the spiral staircase began to spin beneath their trembling knees, Maybell spoke up. "I could have sworn that old man was dead."

Copper and Johnathan burst into laughter. "Why would you think such a thing?" Copper asked.

"He taught my parents, and he was apparently really old then too. It just seems weird that someone that old would still be alive. He should be dead. He's way too old to still be alive."

Johnathan looked shocked, "That's horrible. Why would you say something like that?"

"Because it's true." The staircase stopped and the three moved out the gargoyle towards the Great Hall, or what they assumed was the way to the Great Hall, the likes of which they still had yet to see.

"Maybe he's just prematurely grey." Johnathan said thoughtfully.

"What?" Maybell asked.

"Maybe he just has grey hair, the same way you have red hair and I have blonde. Maybe he's not really all that old, just prematurely grey. He doesn't have any wrinkles, and he doesn't limp and he acts young. Who says he's really all that old?"

"Hmm." Maybell pondered this until they got to the Great Hall. After the three had sat down and begun to eat, she finally turned and conceited. "I guess you're probably right."

In the middle of nibbling a beet, Johnathan asked, "'Bout what?"

"Dumbledore."

"What about him?"

"Being old, well, not being old. Eh. His age."

"You're still on about that! Wow, it doesn't really matter kid. He's alive, that's all there is too it. And he isn't going anywhere for a while. I suggest you just drop it." Copper nodded in agreement.

"I guess."

After dinner, all the first years were lead up to the Gryffindor common room by a prefect named Molly something-or-other. She guided each of them to their respective common rooms.

The next few days passed with little commotion. The new first years got used to their class schedule and their teachers. Gryffindor was paired with Hufflepuff for Charms, Ravenclaw for Transfiguration and Slytherin for Potions. They were on their own for Astronomy, Herbology, History of Magic, Defense Against the Dark Arts and Gryffindor was also paired with Ravenclaw for flying lessons, which would start later in the year.

Maybell's least favorite class of all was Charms with Professor Icarus and the infuriating Sirius Black. The class was a constant enigma for her from the very first day. It was in this class that she discovered that anything to do with Sirius Black spelt trouble, and this did not please her.

The first day of class went something like this …

"Settle down class, settle down!" A tall, skinny wizard with a button nose and stubby fingers stood in the front of the room as the first years filed noisily into the room. "Stop talking! Stop it!" No one was listening.

After ten minutes or so of the teacher's protests, the "good," students hushed the class down to a low whispering growl and the skinny man in the front of the room began to talk again. "My name is Professor Icarus, and I would like to welcome you to your first charms class!

"Before we begin the school year, I would like to tell you a bit about myself." In unison, the entire class slumped into their chairs, preparing themselves for another boring teacher lecture. "I was born and raised in Greece and studied under some of the best teachers there," Icarus cleared his throat nervously, "And over the years I've amassed quite an extensive library of spells from all over the world, most of them obscure little charms from eclectic countries and groups of fascinating magical people." Sirius Black's mouth hung slightly open and a sliver of drool fell from his lips as a loud snore sounded.

Professor Icarus continued as though he had heard nothing. "I met Professor Dumbledore on one of my travels through England, and after hearing my name, he immediately offered me a job here at Hogwarts on the dot. Well, I of course couldn't turn down the one and only Dumbledore, so, I accepted immediately and here we are today." Sirius Black fell off his desk with a loud snort, and then quickly composed himself, laying his head back on his hands to continue his nap. Copper snickered silently while Maybell and Johnathan stared at the boy with disgust and loathing.

"Mr. …" Professor Icarus looked down at a sheet of paper in his hands. Apparently not finding what he had been looking for, the Professor walked up to Sirius Black who was snoring softly and rapped him on the head with his knuckles, "And who might you be, young sir?"

"Sirius Black," He answered insolently, "What's it to ya?"

"Mr. Black," Icarus grasped the back of Sirius' shirt and lead him to the front of the room. "Why don't you tell the class something about yourself? Some of your obviously useless talents."

"Umm. Ok." Maybell sat back furiously. Instead of punishing Sirius for acting rude in class, this prat of a teacher was giving the stupid kid an opportunity to brag and show off even more. What kind of moron was this Professor; did he really think that this was punishment? If he did, he obviously spent too much time overseas and needed to get in touch with the real world. Sirius pulled his wand out of his sleeve, "Well," he said slowly, savoring his moment of glory, "I have this fabulous spell that I've been perfecting since … since … for a very long time."

"All right, Mr. Black," Icarus said menacingly, "With that fabulous introduction, why don't you tell us the point of your spell so I can decide whether or not it's really appropriate."

Sirius faltered and glanced at James who gave a nod of approval and encouragement. With that, Sirius jumped onto the Professor's desk, and before the angular man could say anything, Sirius said loudly, "To be completely honest, there really is no point to this spell, other than the fact its pretty fun." He swung his wand wide and at the last second flicked it away from himself while muttering what sounded like, "Fuoco lago!"

From the tip of his long wand an eruption of water came spurting out loudly. The water had a reddish tint to it.

With a loud shriek, Professor Icarus leapt onto his own desk, shoving Sirius Black off onto the already damp floor. His wand went spiraling away, soaking students in the near vicinity. Sirius went after his wand which was ricocheting off of desks and walls, but the rest of the class was standing in horror watching their Professor.

His features were contorting into an angular fashion, and his eyes were becoming narrower and narrower and were accumulating a deep black color. The most disturbing part however was his skin; it was turning green!

Sirius finally caught his out-of-control wand and turned to face the class with a triumphant grin on his face. His back was to the Professor. When he saw that the entire class was staring avidly at something behind him, he turned around slowly then leapt away in terror.

Icarus was circling the top of his desk, hissing loudly at the water. His finger-nails were growing longer and more gruesome by the second. They were long knives extending from his fingertips, and he began to scratch the edge of his desk with them, creating long, deep grooves of horror.

His head snapped up as his nails screeched across the top of his desk and glared at Sirius who was still holding his wand in one, shaking hand. "Geet OUT!" the creature that was once Professor Icarus shouted.

The students needed no other invitation. They opened the classroom door and flooded into the hallway and out to their respective common rooms. They were followed by a stream of the reddish water and the unearthly howls of their Charms teacher.

Once safe inside the common room, the Gryffindor first years divided into two camps. One, which contained Sirius, James and their two brutes, were laughing mightily about the events that had just taken place.

The other, containing Maybell and Johnathan were still frightened, but as time passed they were becoming angry with Sirius Black for causing this.

Finally, Maybell couldn't take it anymore. She stomped over to the laughing hyenas and pointed her finger right at Sirius Black's nose, "You could have killed someone you know. Making the Professor into some kind of … some kind of horrid creature like that! What kind of spell were you performing? Do you think it's funny? Transfiguring people into evil animals! What if Professor Icarus had turned on a student and … and cut them with those knife-nails! It would have been all your"

"Hey!" Sirius shouted, cutting Maybell off, "I didn't do that to him. All I did was shoot water out of my wand. That freaky, creepy teacher turned into a monster on his own. I wouldn't, and am not, responsible for any of his actions! He's the one who told me to get up there and show my talents."

"What, making water is a talent! Anyone with saliva glands can do that!"

Sirius didn't answer. He merely looked at James bewildered. James' expression matched his own.

"Argh! You are such morons!" Maybell threw her head back and then lunged forward, sending a projectile of spit right onto Sirius' shoulder.

"Oh my god!" Sirius jumped away, "You can't do that! You're a girl! Girls can't spit! Wha- … You … ahh!" He turned to James, "She can't do that can she?" James looked at Maybell, then back to Sirius, smiling broadly.

"I think she just did mate."

Maybell continued to glare at Sirius, which made him protest even more. "You're pathetic." She said quietly. "I shouldn't even bother with you. However." She inhaled deeply, "I think you should go make sure that the Professor is all right; he was fine until you decided to show off!"

"What! No, I can't go. I'm … I'm busy right now." Sirius answered quickly. "Besides, I'm sure that crazy man is doing just fine, just dandy. Now that I'm gone and all. You know, if I go back, that might cause some problems. You don't want me to go back. Nope, he might turn into something creepier if I do, in fact, I think I'll just never go to charms class again, it would be safer."

It was now Maybell's turn to laugh, "You're scared!"

"I am not!" Sirius huffed.

"You are too!"

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"Are not!"

"You are so totally freaked out! Aww, the poor widdle pumpkin. He's frightened of the big, bad, charms teacher, isn't he! Poor thing. Maybe you shouldn't go after all; we wouldn't want you to wet your pants now, would we?"

Sirius gaped and tried to form words, but nothing would come. He opened and shut his mouth a number of times before finally, "Fine! But you're coming with me!"

"Wha-" Maybell was yanked by the arm abruptly by Sirius and dragged out of the room by Sirius. He marched the two of them determinedly towards the Charms room, Maybell protesting the entire way.

"It's not my job to make sure he's ok! I didn't do anything!"

"So?"

"So, that means you can't take me. Damn it, this isn't logical. LET ME GO!"

"Hmm," Sirius stopped; grabbed Maybell's other arm with his free hand and leaned into her face, "No." He continued to march to the Charms room, disgruntled Maybell in tow.

Maybell repeatedly tried to free herself from Sirius' grasp, and repeatedly failed. When they finally reached the Charms room, Sirius let go of her and the two stood side by side in front of the Charms room.

"You open the door." Sirius said to Maybell.

"No, you, this is your job!" Maybell hissed back.

"Well, you're closer to the door knob."

"You've got longer arms."

"Fine, we'll do it together."

Hand on hand, the two grasped the doorknob and pushed it inward, unbeknownst to the other, the two also covered their eyes and looked away. The door swung wide into the Charms room, but they were both too afraid to look.

Sirius opened on eye, "What do you see, Maybell?"

"Nothing, what do you see?"

"Nothing."

"Let's go back."

"Ya, let's go now."

"No!" Professor McGonagall's voice thundered from the room into the hallway. Sirius and Maybell turned rigidly around to face their formidable transfiguration teacher. "Come in," she said in a kinder voice. Professor Icarus, no long green and frightening, stood behind his desk again. The only part of his appearance that hinted at his previous state was his hair. It had a green tinge and was thrown in all directions and resembled an angry tree with knotted branches and therefore knotted leaves.

"Hello Professors" Sirius attempted, but his voice fell when McGonagal glared at him.

"What happened here Sirius? Why did Professor Icarus become so frightened; when he changes he doesn't remember a thing. What he does recall is what happened before he changed; and that was you getting into trouble for sleeping in his class."

Sirius didn't answer. "Well?" McGonagal placed her hands on her hips and stared down at Sirius. "Fine, since you don't seem to be cooperative, why doesn't Maybell answer for you?"

Maybell started, and then stared pleadingly at McGonagal. "It had nothing to do with me."

"All right, what did it have to do with, Ms. Shorter?"

"Do you promise I won't get into trouble if I tell you?"

"No." McGonagal said, "But I do promise that if you don't, you'll be in much more trouble than if you don't."

"Oh." Maybell shifted uncomfortably and took a breath. "Siriusmadealakeofredwaterthentheteacherturnedgreenandweallranaway."

"What?" McGonagal sternly glared at Maybell, "Maybell Shorter, if do not tell me what happened her I am going to put you into detention with your friend Haviland."

"Haviland, who's Haviland?" Sirius asked.

"Copper." Maybell said quietly.

"ENOUGH!" McGonagal shouted, making Sirius, Maybell and Professor Icarus jump and to the students' surprise, Professor Icarus squeaked loudly and turned a shade greener. McGonagal sighed heavily, and with a melancholy glance at Professor Icarus, continued without any anger leaving her voice "I want to know what happened, and I want to know … now." She spat the last word at the students, actually dampening their cheeks with her furious saliva.

"Ok. This is what happened." Sirius started.

"Sirius was sleeping in class," Maybell followed.

"Then I woke up because this crazy guy" He indicated to Professor Icarus, much to McGonagal's displeasure, "was leaning over me and breathing heavily."

"Like a bear." Maybell added helpfully. Sirius winked at her, luckily McGonagal didn't notice.

"And then, after I had woken up, he went back up to continue teaching the class, and I was paying rapt attention, because I was of course completely repentant for falling asleep during his class."

"And to be fair, Sirius wasn't the only one asleep, we all kind of were. No offence, but Professor Icarus is rather boring."

Sirius spoke over Maybell's last words, hoping McGonagal hadn't heard her, "Then Maybell, like a crazed madwoman, rushed to the front of the room with her wand brandished over hear head shouting 'Fuoco Lago!' and this red river came crashing down from the top of her wand, then the Professor went crazy, turning green and all, and Maybell ran out of the room laughing manically, so we all followed her, not wanting to stay in the room alone with Professor Icarus." Sirius rushed to McGonagal, ignoring Maybell's indignant protests, "It was terrifying Professor. Absolutely terrifying." He gripped McGonagal's hand and stared up at her with a face that he hoped showed strength and terror at the same time. "I did the only thing I could think of; I brought her back down here so she could fix the Professor, but obviously she's not needed. Nor am I." Sirius turned to leave.

Professor McGonagal gasped, "MAYBELL SHORTER! What is this! What in the world were you thinking?"

Maybell finally found her voice, "What! You don't actually i _believe _ /i him, do you! That little snot is lying through his teeth!"

"Sirius Black!" McGonagal bellowed. "Don't you try to sneak off!" Maybell smirked as Sirius skidded back to her side. She opened her mouth to finally tell the Professor's what really had happened, but she was cut off my McGonagal. "I no longer care what happened here. They two of you are going to serve detention together. You'll be serving both days with your dear friend Copper; at least I believe that's her name. You are to report to the dungeons at precisely 7:00 Friday and Saturday night this weekend."

"Hey!" Maybell shouted, "I didn't do anything!"

"You refused to answer my questions and tried to help Sirius Black cover up, and despite the fact that he turned on you, that is enough to earn you detention. Now if you continue to argue with me and remain in this room, I am going to take two hundred and fifty points from Gryffindor!"

"Two hundred and fifty points!" Sirius yelped, appalled, "Professor!"

"I haven't taken it away yet, but I'm going to if you don't leave this instant!"

The two scooted out of that classroom faster than a bullet. Once in the hallway, Maybell pushed Sirius into a wall, "What was that about! Trying to get out of trouble by getting me in trouble! That was low!" Sirius stared at her blankly. "What?"

"You don't act like a girl."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean."

"You spit and push, next thing I know you're going to be punching me in the face."

"If you keep acting like a prat, you better cover your nose, jerk." Maybell stomped away, leaving Sirius leaning against the wall, massaging his shoulder where Maybell had pushed him.

Maybell arrived in the common room with a bang. She had slammed the portrait so violently upon her entrance that the Fat Lady was muttering muffled curses at her and making obscene gestures. She grabbed her books, left the room with the same ferocity as she had entered and prowled dangerously to the library where she slunk into a chair and ripped open her transfiguration book, u A Beginners Guide to Transfiguration, /u leaving anyone who saw here in a state of abject fear.

She buried her head into the first few pages of the text book, but slammed it after a few moments, causing Madame Brokski, the librarian, to glare at her. She grimaced at the librarian, and then muttered to herself, "I don't know enough to know what questions to ask. I don't even know enough to read the bloody text book. This is pointless." She stood in her seat and left her books in library and proceeded to wander the halls in a rage.

"How could he do this to me? Who does he think he is?" Maybell was so incensed; she began to talk to herself, "I'm not some little person he can blame stuff on." A little voice in her mind said slyly, i you tried to help him /i "Ya so, ain't gonna happen again." i but it happened once /i "Shut up. You suck." i I'm you, don't'cha know? /i "No you're not. You're some crazy mutant from space. Get out of my head!" Maybell ran into a solid object. Disoriented, she raised her head and found herself face to face with Albus Dumbledore.

"Good to see you're physically well, Ms. Shorter. I wish I could say the same about your mental health." His blue eyes twinkled, this served only to anger Maybell more.

"I'm fine." She huffed.

"So am I. Let's take a walk, I've been meaning to tell you about what I've discovered about your dear friend Ollie."

"Fine."

Maybell shuffled next to Dumbledore, her head angled towards to floor. Dumbledore ignored her demeanor and started to speak lightly and happily, "Now, as you know, Ollie obviously has enormous magical powers, more than your average hedgehog. I've had a few conversations with Mr. Ollivander himself, and I learned of how Ollie was once his magnificent sign. Magnificent is obviously an objective term." Maybell laughed, which invigorated Dumbledore, "So! I spent the last couple days observing your little friend, and put him in various situations, one of which inadvertently included my Phoenix, Fawkes. I have never before encountered an animal that could turn a phoenix into a golden statue, but you seemed to have produced one.

"Now, as to what I discovered." They reached the gargoyle that guarded the entry into Dumbledore's office. He spoke the password, "Laffy Taffy," and the two made their way up the stairs into his office. Once inside, Dumbledore walked around his circular desk and opened a drawer. Ollie jumped out onto the desk, blinking madly. Maybell ran up to him and scooped him up onto her shoulder. Dumbledore laughed and smiled, "You two make quite a couple, I must say. Now, as to what I discovered. Ollie is, and forever will be a hedgehog from now on. I couldn't find any kind of counter spell to turn him back into a sign, thankfully. Also, the only way anything will be turned gold by Ollie is if they are a. alive, and b. pricked by one of his quills, or if they merely touch something/someone who has been pricked by one of his quills. And, they only stay golden for an hour, two if it's their second time changing; three if it's their third, so on and so forth. Does that make sense?"

"I think so."

"Good! The second thing I discovered, Ollie glows when he is hungry, and as you said before, he only eats wood. I think this is because he was once wood. I could be wrong, but he doesn't seem to enjoy any other delicacy. He has quite a fondness for wooden coasters, I might add." Maybell smiled, "I figured there was something behind that." Dumbledore said quietly, "Beyond that, I'm not sure what else Ollie can do; other than the things I mentioned before, he seems to be a fairly normal hedgehog. Quite playful I might add.

"He's also quite protective and territorial. I've only seen a guard dog become so defensive around a Phoenix before; and as I said before I've never seen anything manage to curse or magically alter a Phoenix. However, Ollie managed to do so in defense of me. Fawkes, my bird," Dumbledore gestured to a large red bird sitting on a perch by his door, "Ollie rushed Fawkes as he flew to my shoulder and literally shot a quill at the descending bird. Poor Fawkes landed loudly on the floor and went skidding across it only to land at the feet of Professor Icarus who was just walking in.

Maybell stared at the hedgehog on her shoulder, attempting to digest everything that Dumbledore had said to her.

"I also heard from a little bird that you got into a bit of a run in with Professor Icarus." Maybell glared at the desk in front of her, too much information was being thrown at her by this happy, prematurely gray man. "Do you know why he changed the way he did?"

"He's a crazy green-alien-mutant-man from Mars."

"No."

"He's a psychopathic leprechaun in disguise as a teacher."

"That's actually close, but not quite."

"Whatever." Maybell closed her eyes, willing herself to ignore the man who sat in front of her, but it was in vain. He had more patience than she, and when she opened her eyes he continued.

"I know this is a lot of information to digest, Ms. Shorter, but it will make your life a little easier."

"Can't it wait? Tell me later, when I'm not … not …" Maybell searched for the word.

"Furious?"

"That's it."

"Ok, be expecting a call from me in the next couple of days to discuss with you what happened with Professor Icarus. Perhaps I will proctor your detention and tell you as you clean the dungeons."

Maybell slouched more in her chair and Ollie crawled into her lap and curled content against her stomach. This was a horrible way to begin the school year, and it was all Sirius Black's blood fault. Maybell vowed she would have his blood before the school year was over.

hr 

Lia Tween – OMG! I love you so much::big hugs: and of course I'll review your story! I've actually already read the first chapter, during Spanish class, but I didn't get to review because my butt head teacher caught me not doing Spanish.

Now, I have to say that I LOVED your reviews because you made me go back and read what I wrote. When I read your first few reviews I was like .. "Wait, I wrote that? When?" Lol. You're also very observant, you've caught a lot of stuff people missed, which makes me very happy. I'm glad you laughed too.

I really want to thank you for the first review in particular, I hadn't realized why so many ppl were like "Oh she's such a Mary Sue," until you told me about that one paragraph. I fixed it and made my idea's clearer … I hope.

And … Here's the new installment. I just got a new job and final's are coming up, that's why it took so long. After finals though, I'll be completely free to write, write, write, so updates will be coming faster. (Also, the reason this is out when it is is because of your reviews. After reading the last three, I sat my butt down in front of the comp and told myself "You are not leaving until you finish this chapter." So, thanks for the inspiration  I love you!

Laochra – I won't stop writing this anytime soon; this is my little escape from reality. It's so pleasant :floats off into lala land:

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Oh wait … back now … Thanks for the review! XD And thanks for putting me on your favorites list, I feel so special! XD

z'yiandria – I have an infatuation with the color red in general … lol.

Maybell will not fall in love with Sirius out the blue … I think that would be absolutely horrible and trust me that's the LAST thing I want from her! I would hate her if she did that … :shudder:

Btw, I'm glad you caught on to the fact that Maybell isn't really as detached as Sirius thinks she is, that's very observant and you're the first person to have noticed that, and to have examples. XD … however, I did that on purpose to develop a bit of Sirius' character, he'll develop from that a bit more. Also, when Sirius talks about her detachment, it's in later years. He comes to that conclusion later after more events. Brava though! I'm glad SOMEBODY noticed that :-D

Also, all of the people and things I introduce have some kind of purpose and meaning, either right there or later one. I don't always come right out and say "So and so is this or that," I try to veil it so people think about it.

As for Ollie … he does have purpose, and he was also the inspiration for the story. Without Ollie, there would be no "The Long and Short of It." I woke up at midnight a while ago with this idea of having a sign turn into a hedgehog and it evolved from there. I actually wrote the third chapter first, then went back and wrote the first two for character development.

As for it sounding like rambling, that was also on purpose. In so many words, I showed/said that both of those kids are incredibly arrogant and full of themselves, therefore setting them up for a fall, and not just for one another.

Thanks for the advice on getting anonymous reviews as well, I feel much better now …

All in all, thanks for the fabulous review … I love it when people give me constructive criticism! I had someone on the other site say, "Ur booorrrriiinnng" without any explanation to help me fix things. So, thank you, I really appreciated the help and I'm glad you caught on to some of the subtler elements.


	8. Auntie Titty's Tea

The agitated class fidgeted uncomfortable in the dank dungeon, eagerly awaiting their Potions teacher's already extremely late arrival. A few students chatted mildly, generally about insignificant, small things, though most clung tightly to their potions book, as if they offered salvation. There were many stories fluttering around the reputation of this particularly poisonous Potions teacher. Some said she was pure evil, ready and willing to physically eat any student alive, others said she was the kindest, sweetest woman ever to grace the lovely planet earth. Even others said that she was just plain crazy; out of her mind and not afraid to show it.

Maybell wasn't sure how to think. She had never been truly afraid of a soul in her life and saw no reason to start now, and anyways, no one could match Professor McGonagal in terms of being frightening. Thus, Maybell sat in the back of the room feeling a sort of detached and uncaring anticipation. Maybell sat next to Copper and Johnathan, right behind Sirius Black, James Potter and Remus Lupin. This would most certainly prove to be an interesting class at the very least.

THUD! The entire room shook, interrupting Maybell's thoughts. THUD! It sounded again. A few of the Slytherin girls whined unhappily about how earth-quakes weren't supposed to happen in England. THUD! What in the world was that? THUD, SMACK! The door from the teacher's office slammed open loudly. The students all pulled back simultaneously, each trying to be the farthest away from the giant teacher that was cloaked in shadow.

She moved into the light, and the class alternated sighs of relief and gasps of terror.

The only thing Maybell could see and think of was how huge the woman was. She was a titan, perhaps larger. She was a cruise ship; it had to be hard for her to turn corners while toting that gigantic berth. Maybell's eyes wandered up to the teachers face and her brow furrowed in confusion. Her face was sugary sweet, yet inherently evil at the same time. She was smiling in what she had to assume was a sweet smile to the class, but it looked more like a carnival grin on one of those pop-up-jack-in-the-boxes that have been scaring children to death for century's. And her hair! It was a tangle of unhappy brown snakes, all fighting for the top spot. Maybell wasn't aware that hair could look … emotional, but this woman's hair was angry and depressed at the same time.

Maybell stared at the strange woman, her head lopsided and mouth slightly open. Sirius Black had a matching expression as did the vast majority of the rest of the class. "Hello dear-ies! My name is Ms. Tittious Little, but you can call me Auntie Titty, and I am just delighted to be here to teach you all potions this year! I think it's just brilliant that we'll be together!"

Maybell furrowed her brow even more, what the … "As you all know, this class is meant to teach all of you the basic's of potions! Now, isn't that just thrilling!" She looked around the room, her fake smile plastered unnaturally upon her man-like features. Her face looked ready to crack like plaster, "ANSWER ME!" she bellowed, knocking the class back ten feet.

"Oh yes, um, fan-tabulous." Sirius Black ventured.

"Thank you, Mr. …?"

"Black."

"Thank you Mr. Black for answering me, I think that deserves a gold star!"

"A what?"

"A gold star! See, I think the point system for the houses only creates conflict in Hogwarts, a school that should be focused on unity and not … divididity."

Johnathan snorted, "Divididity?"

But Auntie Titty didn't hear him, "I think this school should focus more on harmony in life rather than dis-harmony, so to do my part and promote happiness, I've developed the gold star system!" She glowed triumphantly, "With this system, you only compete against yourself to see how many gold-stars you can receive. I have a system set up with prizes if you win. For example, if you get five stars, you get to write a paper on whatever subject you chose! Wouldn't that be just great?"

Not a soul answered. "I SAID! Wouldn't that be GREAT?"

"Uh, sure?" Sirius Black answered again.

"Good! Another gold star for you! You're on your way to being a real winner Mr. Black!" She turned around to face the chalk board. She began to write screeching on the chalkboard with her wand, i _Auntie Titty_ _Principals for Life_ /i then in very small writing, i _and potions _ /i .

"What the hell is this?" Johnathan muttered, "This has absolutely nothing to do with potions." He shook his head darkly and slung down into his seat, avoiding Auntie Titty's eyes.

"Auntie Titty?" Maybell wondered allowed.

"What kind of name is that?" Sirius asked wonderingly.

Similar questions were floating around the room like vagabond pixies. Only one student was silent at this point in time. Severus Snape, a greasy haired child, sat stonily in the back of the room, eyeing Auntie Titty with the most furious of glares.

"Class." Auntie Titty turned to face the chattering children. "Darlings, dear-ies, lovelies. Talking is strictly prohibited once we walk through those doors. Unless of course, you're me, which you're not, or I tell you that you can speak. Which I probably won't do. Well … maybe I will.

"Oops! I almost forgot!" Auntie smiled maniacally and walked over to a cabinet on the side of the room. "Since this is our first day of class, and I'm sure tensions are high because it is the beginning of the school year, I thought it would be appropriate for us to share a cup of tea together to … relieve the tension and stress our day has caused us thus far."

"She's loony. Totally loopy." Remus said, leaning back towards Copper, causing her to blush secretly.

"Here's what we're going to do," Auntie swung her wand and five large kettles of tea appeared on her desk. She flicked her wand again and each student was graced with a strange, yellowing, flowered tea cup. Sirius smelled his cup and flew backwards in his chair, revolted.

Maybell laughed at Sirius and said quietly, "Curiosity killed the cat."

"But satisfaction brought it back."

Maybell fell back into her seat, dejected. "Class, please come forward with your teacups and have a glass of tea."

Each student filled towards the front of the class and unhappily accepted their cups of tea which smelt like a cross between cat dandruff and a boys gym bag.

The rest of the class was surprisingly smooth, none of the students really remembered what they learned. It all went by in a bit of a dazed blur.

About an hour after class though, most of the students were back to their normal, complaining selves.

The rest of the week went by with fairly little trouble. By Friday however, the three friends hadn't done any of their homework and were thus in the library studying their little brains out.

i Tap.

Tap.

TapTap.

TapTapTapTapTap … /i 

"Stop it!" Copper hissed, skillfully reaching over Maybell and her open Charms book to grab Johnathan's offending fingers so that she could stop the incessant tapping that was driving her slowly to the brink of utter insanity.

The three were studying for a Charms test they had that Monday. Because Maybell and Copper both had detention that night, they had decided to get their studying and homework out of the way so that they would have the entire weekend to do whatever it is they decided they wanted to do. Johnathan, being the brilliant boy he was, had already decided that he would study when Copper and Maybell were gone in detention, which left him bored with nothing to do at this particular moment. Johnathan was the epitome of perpetual motion and that was antagonizing the antagonize-able Copper, thereby preventing her from getting any studying done. Maybell, the most docile of the three, sat lazily and sucked mindlessly on a sugar quill while reading her Charms book absentmindedly. Unaware of the animosity radiating off of Copper, she turned a page in her Charms book and pat Ollie on the head as he gnawed a wooden coaster her mother had sent as a gift.

i Tap.

Tap.

TapTapTap … /i 

"Can't you just quit?" Copper grabbed her Potions book, the only class they had actually had yet, and therefore had no homework for, and promptly plopped it onto Johnathan's nefarious fingers, "Leave it there, it'll remind you not to tap so we can get some work done." She looked meaningfully at Maybell who slurped her sugar quill and turned a page in the Charms book, continuing to read.

i Color Changing Charms

Color changing charms can be used for many different items, from hair and eye color to the color of a room. The size of the item which will be charmed determines the how the spell is performed.

The spell on varies slightly, however it does vary. When performed incorrectly, the spell will often result in the wrong color or an unpleasant burning spell and sparks. /i 

Maybell giggled, remembering back to the train ride with Johnathan. Copper must have used a color spell to change his hair and she said it wrong.

"Do da, do da." Johnathan stole a look towards Copper trying to determine if she could hear his singing, and if so, if it bothered her. He didn't want her to tap his mouth shut. Copper sat studiously, determined to ignore him. Taking this as a sign that she could not hear him, Johnathan continued softly, and then got louder. "There she goes a-just a walkin' down the street singing do a diddy diddy dum diddy do …"

"SHUT UP!"

"Ms. Miller! Would you please attempt to keep it down to a dull roar? This is a library and I expect you and your friends to treat it as such!"

Copper muttered an incoherent "Sorry," and after granting darling Johnathan with a furious glare, she returned to her work.

Johnathan slouched in his seat, defeated; his hand still lay under Copper's Potions book.

After a few moments, his defeated look changed to one of hope. "Copper?" he chanced.

Copper didn't respond.

"Copper?"

Her violet eyes narrowed. She turned to face Johnathan and growled almost inaudibly underneath her breath. "What." She said venomously.

Johnathan looked down at his hands, smiled slightly then said, "Are you done yet?"

"No." She responded icily.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm positive."

"Absolutely positive?"

"Yes, Johnathan, I …"

"Only fools are positive, Copper." Johnathan interrupted.

"Fine! I'm a fool, are you happy now? Better question, will you shut it now?"

"No." Johnathan said smartly. Maybell smiled into her charms book. After a few moments, his voice could be heard again, "What about now? Are you done now?" He whined and turned to Maybell, who still smiled. "Maybell, make her finish."

She lifted her head from her book to fix Johnathan with a bemused stare, "There isn't a thing that I can do, and you should know that by now."

Madame Brokski strolled over to the group, which was growing steadily louder, "Are you quite finished?"

Johnathan smiled, "I don't know Copper, are we?"

Copper glowered, accepting that she had been beaten. She growled quietly to Johnathan, "Yes."

"Then I suggest you get out of my library, you are disturbing the other students." Copper stormed out of the library, carrying her books in her arms because she didn't want to waste time bothering with her book bag, and Johnathan followed her in hot pursuit.

Maybell turned another page in her charms book and continued to read until Madam Brokski had left. Then, under her breath, "Those two are going to drive me mad someday, just watch."

Sirius Black chose that particular moment to stride cockily into the library, full of jubilant ideas on how to drive Maybell Shorter mad. He scanned the room, and upon spotting Maybell sitting placidly in her chair, started towards her. "Is this seat empty?" he tried cordially. Maybell frowned at her book, then grabbed her book-bag and threw it onto the seat next to her.

She looked up at Sirius contemptuously and said, "Nope."

Not knowing what to do, he moved over to the other chair next to her, and she promptly moved one of her books to that chair. "Fine, I can see where I'm not wanted!" Sirius huffed, and turned to stomp away.

"Thank god," Maybell uttered.

She turned back to her Charms book on the desk; but, it was gone! She leapt out of her chair and whirled around looking for Sirius, certain he was the culprit who had stolen her book of solace.

Spotting him on the other side of the room, she stomped over ferociously and landed right in front of Sirius who was busy talking to a group of 2nd year girls. "What did you do with it? Hmm, where is it?" She demanded before he could talk; she grabbed his bag and began shuffling through it despite the girls indignant protests.

Bewildered and oblivious to her destruction of his book bag, "Do with what?"

"My charms book you … you … insufferable flout!" Papers were flying everywhere and falling to the ground like snow around Maybell. "How can you even find anything in this … this … pig-sty?"

One of the second years giggled, "Siri, were you playing tricks again?" Sirius stared at her wide eyed and jumped away from his seat.

He turned to Maybell and said with quiet determination, "What did you call me?"

Maybell calculated the situation, and then smiled smartly but her eye still boiled over with a raging flame, "What? A pig-sty?" She glared at Sirius, "An insufferable flout! That's what I called you!" seeing his expression, her tone changed from anger to faux mocking pity, "Awe, poor i Siri /i do you not know what a flout is?"

Sirius blushed slightly, then quickly decided that honesty was the best policy he shook his head sadly. Maybell stomped away and disappeared into the reference section of the library and returned a few seconds later with a large leather-bound book in her hand.

Instinctively, Sirius backed away from Maybell and the book she was toting. Eyeballing the book beadily, he leaned over to one of the girls next to him, "What is that?"

Maybell sighed exasperatedly, "How do you expect these losers to know what this is; they're just as stupid as you. It's a dictionary you idiot." One of the girls giggled.

Sirius and Maybell both stared at her. "Do you always giggle like this? When there really isn't anything to laugh at?" Maybell asked loudly.

The girl smiled blankly, started to giggle, and then stopped herself. For a moment, she looked at Sirius then gestured to the other girls and all four of them walked away, leaving Sirius and Maybell alone in that section of the library. Sirius turned to Maybell and smiled lopsidedly and what he hoped would make her stop looking so angry; it worked on other girls, why not Maybell? "So, what do you want me to do with that … dictionary?"

Maybell's eyebrows met and she felt anger start to boil even higher in her, he had her Charms book and he was an idiot. There was nothing more upsetting than an idiot; her father had taught her that a long time ago. "What do you think I want you to do with it? I want to make you less ignorant, Sirius Black. I want you to know about the world you live in and stop walking around like a stupid, bloody, loser, moron-person."

Sirius continued to stare. "That still doesn't explain exactly what you want me to do with this thing." He pointed at the dictionary.

"For Godric's sake, are you really that thick?"

"Maybe." He said, still edging away slightly from the book.

"Argh!" In a last act of desperation, Maybell forsook the thought of ever getting her charms book back and chucked the heavy dictionary at Sirius' remarkably large head. She turned away seething and didn't stop even when she heard a loud THWACK and an even louder, "OW! You hit my head!"

Madame Brokski rushed past her to get to Sirius and Maybell grabbed her book bag, ready to leave. She started walking, but then remembering the other chair she spun around to snatch whatever book she had placed there and stomp away.

There, on the blue cushion, sitting comfortably and contently was Maybell's Charms book. She had thrown it on that chair to stop Sirius from sitting next to her and the blue and gold cover winked up at her as though it were laughing at her outburst. Maybell looked over at Sirius who was nursing his head while trying to convince Madame Brokski that he was innocent and she felt a twang of guilt. Brushing it aside she glowered at her book on last time, then scooped it up with the rest of her growing library and stomped out of the library so that i she /i wouldn't have to deal with one of Madame Brokski's infamous lectures. She decided to make her way up to the Gryffindor Tower where she was sure she wouldn't have to deal with Sirius Black.

The first thing she heard upon opening the fat lady's portrait hole was, "No! I am not going to let you practice color changing charms on my hair! Who do you think you are!"

Johnathan put his hands saucily on his hips, "Copper, it's only fair. You changed my hair color, now it's my turn to return the favor."

"No." She crossed her arms over her chest and looked away.

"Don't make me do it when you're not looking."

Copper spun around dangerously, "You wouldn't dare!"

Maybell slunk back out the portrait hole before the two had even known she was there. "Well!" The Fat Lady huffed, "If I had known you were going to leave that quickly, I wouldn't have opened up for you! Don't expect me to again, bring a friend next time you want to get in!" the fat lady huffed dramatically and turned and strolled out of her portrait.

Maybell's POV

I smirked uselessly at the empty portrait where the Fat Lady just was, then whirled around and started down the hall to my right.

It wasn't so much that I was … angry with Sirius Black, I was just … just … just annoyed to the point of extreme annoyance. Something about him just rubbed me the wrong way, he was so big-headed and so bloody sure of himself, and he was pointless. My father would tell me at this point, "It takes one to know one," but, in this case he would be wrong. I do not have to be Sirius Black to know I don't like him. To know I hate him the way Copper hates Johnathan.

But then again, Copper doesn't really hate Johnathan does she? I mean, not really. They're just friends that don't like each other much. No, that's not it. They just annoy each other to the point of extreme annoyance, yes, that's it.

I strode confidently down the halls, lost in my thoughts and not bothering to look where I was going or wonder how long I had been walking. I rounded a corner and found myself staring at the side profiles of Sirius Black and Professor McGonagall. I was about to walk right in between them when I heard, "But, Professor, Maybell Shorter HATES me!"

I backed back around the corner from whence I came and leaned forward so I could listen to their conversation. "Honestly, Sirius Black, I don't blame her." She said something else but I couldn't understand her.

I moved closer to where the two were standing, "Professor, I promise, I'll do two extra months of detention, just please don't make me do it with her. Please?" I caught myself just before I snorted; he looked so pathetic whining about having to go to detention with me.

I looked down at my Charms book that was still in my hand, and stuffed it into my book-bag so that Sirius wouldn't see it when I walked by. Taking a deep breath, I turned the corner and strolled past McGonagal and Sirius Black, trying desperately not to look guilty. I'm still not quite sure why I felt guilty, but that's beside the point at this point.

McGonagal apparently didn't buy my act and grabbed my arm as I strolled by. "Where are you going, Ms. Shorter?"

My mind blanked. I stared up at her, my mouth flailing uselessly like a dead fish. Sirius Black in all is Black glory stood gloating next to me as I searched my mind for something to say. "I … I just didn't want to be in the library or the common rooms." A thought hit me, "I have my books! I was … uh … looking for somewhere to study, somewhere with peace and quiet."

"I guess that means you found your Charms book then?" Sirius asked stupidly.

I glared at him, then jumped with the Professor applied more pressure on my arm. "Well? What is this about your Charms book?"

I turned and for a moment glared at Professor McGonagal, but caught myself. "Nothing." I muttered.

"Oh no! It wasn't 'nothing,'" Sirius said, "She threw a dictionary at me 'cause she thought I had that bloody book, but I didn't!"

Sirius paused for a moment, seemingly to gather his thoughts, and then promptly turned back to me, "By the way, Maybell Shorter, I'm a lot smarter than you give me credit for. You used 'flout,' as a noun, really, it's a verb! You can, like, 'flout,' someone, 'flout,' people. It means you make fun of them. You can't be a flout. Ha!"

McGonagal let out a dangerous breath and Sirius immediately stopped talking. "I think the two of you need to work out your problems, and the way you're going to do that is in a weeks worth of extra detentions. And I'm going to write to both of your parents." Sirius and Maybell both paled. "Furthermore, I'm going to take 25 points from your house due to your discretions. From now on, Mr. Black and Ms. Shorter, you're going to have to love each other deeply if you want to be on my good side."

I wrenched her arm from the Professors hand and glowered at the floor, earning myself another two days of detention on top of what I'm already doing. I muttered a not-so-happy, "Fine," then stormed off to avoid more punishment from McGonagal. I figured once I had gone a ways that I hadn't avoided more punishment, I just had avoided hearing about it.

I decided to go back to the common room where Johnathan and Copper were. I was sure that they couldn't possibly still be arguing.

When I got to the Fat Lady, it took some prodding and coddling to finally get her to let me back into my common room, and I promptly cursed her once I arrived.

I walked over to a table in a corner by a window I liked to work at and lay out my things. Something was wrong though. I looked up and out the window, then turned around … and screamed.

The entire room was a rainbow of random colors that flowed easily in and out of each other. The walls, chairs, ceiling, even the fireplace was changing colors rapidly. I backed away into the table, and jumped around to look; how could I have not noticed the ever-changing colors that were all over the table and the chair I had almost sat in.

I turned back around to look at the room; upon closer inspection I could see students huddled in corners, their hair and clothing changing colors with the walls. Before I could question one of them as to what had happened, Copper appeared dramatically at the top of the stairs. Her hair was a shock of purple and it matched her eyes eerily. She spotted me and descended the stairs regally.

Once she reached the bottom, she scoured the room. Leaning over to me, she said quietly, "Johnathan and I'm looking for him. If you see him, holler 'cotton ball,' up the stairs and I'll come down to finish him off. It's war." Copper turned away from me and scanned the room once more, then returned up to our dormitory the same way she had come down.

I rolled my eyes and went to sit down to finish my work in this psychedelic room. I jumped again when I almost sat down on poor Ollie. The little hedgehog stared up at me pathetically from the chair; he was huddled in a corner of the chair, almost disappearing in the fabric. I laughed at his terror, picked him up and placed him on my homework.

I worked diligently until 6:45 or so. I managed to get all of my Charms done and some of my Transfiguration, but unfortunately I never had the opportunity to shout "Cotton Ball!" up to Copper.

Not that I would have needed to. Every five minutes the loony girl came down the stairs to check for herself to see if Johnathan was there for her to pounce on him. Checking my watch again, I shouted "Copper!" up the stairs, hoping she would come so we could proceed to detention together. When she didn't respond to three more Copper's, I shouted, "Cotton Ball!" and she was down in two second flat, wand brandished and shouting obsenities at Johnathan.

I smiled. "Ready to go to detention?"

"Oh that was mean. You're just mean." Copper put her wand away and walked with me out of the portrait hall and down to the detention.


End file.
